Martin Odegaard hits back after Jamie Carragher and critics took aim at Arsenal for over celebrating their dramatic victory against Liverpool – as he insists Mikel Arteta’s side will remain ‘humble’ during title push
- Arsenal beat Liverpool to move within two points of first place in the Premier League
- Mikel Arteta’s side were accused in some corners of celebrating too exuberantly
- Why Liverpool is like a tower of JENGA – It all starts Transferweek podcast
Martin Odegaard hit back at critics who claimed Arsenal had celebrated their victory over 10-man Liverpool, insisting they would remain ‘humble’ in their Premier League title challenge.
The Gunners moved within two points of Jurgen Klopp’s leaders after a 3-1 win over 10-man Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.
Bukayo Saka opened the scoring for Arsenal before Gabriel Magalhaes’ unfortunate own goal equalized for the visitors on the stroke of half-time.
A mix-up between Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk allowed Gabriel Martinelli to restore Arsenal’s lead in the second half, with substitute Leandro Trossard adding the points in stoppage time after Ibrahima Konate was sent off.
Odegaard then led the celebrations, taking the club’s photographer’s camera to capture the jubilant reactions to a result that put Mikel Arteta’s men straight back into title contention.
Martin Odegaard hit back at critics who claimed Arsenal had over-celebrated the victory in Liverpool
Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was unhappy with what he saw.
‘Just go into the tunnel. You won a game, three points, you’ve been brilliant. Back in the title race, enter the tunnel. I honestly mean it,” he said – before later adding on X, formerly known as Twitter: “By all means, enjoy it, but enjoy it by being disciplined!”
Carragher also changed his
Asked if it is possible to celebrate too much after such a big victory, the Norway international replied: ‘No, I think everyone who loves football, who understands football, knows how much it means to win this match.
‘And if you can’t celebrate when you win a match, when can you celebrate? We are happy with the victory and remain humble.
‘We continue to work hard and prepare for the next one, but of course you have to be happy when you win.
‘It was a huge match. As you say it could have been eight points (if we had lost) and it would have looked a lot harder, but we showed up, the fans were incredible.
“I think we all did this together. You see the club, how together we are, all the players, staff, supporters, everything. So yes, wonderful to see.’
It was only Liverpool’s second league defeat of the season and Klopp admits that overcoming defeat can be more challenging if it doesn’t happen often.
“We haven’t lost a lot of football games lately, we know that,” he said.
‘That means that dealing with defeat is a challenge – for humanity, actually. Nobody here expects, at least in our dressing room, that we will just fly over Burnley or whatever.
‘They fight for their goals, they are a very talented group, who are unlucky at times and things like that. But it’s a home game and we can turn things around, that is, the first step, and then we’ll see.
‘(After Sunday) Nobody celebrates the champions and nobody gets relegated as far as I know, so we have every chance to create our own destiny. Let’s wait and see what happens.’
