Martin Odegaard said Arsenal were motivated by revenge after beating Newcastle United to stay in touch with Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
The Gunners controversially suffered their first league defeat of the season at St James’ Park in November.
Anthony Gordon’s winner was subjected to an unusual triple VAR check that lasted several minutes, with the referees checking whether the ball had gone out of bounds, for a foul and offside before awarding it.
Manager Mikel Arteta described the VAR decision as ’embarrassing’ and a ‘disgrace’, while Arsenal also felt Bruno Guimaraes was lucky to escape a red card for an elbow on Jorginho.
But while Arsenal are in the thick of the title race, Newcastle are languishing in eighth place and the gulf in class between the two teams was evident at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening.
Martin Odegaard celebrates Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Newcastle as they kept pace with Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League title race
Odegaard celebrates with Gabriel after Arsenal’s first goal, an own goal by Sven Botman
The Arsenal captain said Arsenal’s sense of injustice after a controversial VAR call went against them in the second leg against Newcastle in November added ‘extra fire’
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Sven Botman’s own goal was followed by strikes from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Jakub Kiwior before Joe Willock claimed a late consolation.
Captain Odegaard said: “I think what happened to us against Newcastle last time gave us a little extra fire today.
“Even though we felt a little bit tired, you know, after a lot of games, a lot of distance covered in the last games, we just wanted to come here and make a good game and give the fans a good night. And we did that.’
Speaking about his leading role at Arsenal, the Norwegian told TNT Sports: ‘I try to lead by example, I try to do the right things, I try to have a good mentality by always pushing the players around me. Do what’s best for the team.
“That’s the most important thing you know: getting the best out of every player and understanding that every player is different.”
Arteta’s side could have been signed last season, when they lost a substantial lead at the top of the table, allowing City to win the trophy.
But Arsenal are once again right in the mix, moving within two points of Liverpool after City also closed the gap earlier in the day by beating Bournemouth 1-0.
“That was the moment to show what we learned last season,” Odegaard added.
Anthony Gordon’s winning goal for Newcastle in November proved highly controversial
The first thing the VAR looked at was whether Joe Willock managed to keep the ball in play
Officials then tried to determine if this was a push on Gabriel by Joelinton
The third part of the VAR check was whether Gordon was offside when he shot the ball home
‘The year before we missed the Champions League and we came back so strong and showed that we were a lot better.
‘Last year we missed the title and now it is time to show that we have learned something. We enjoy playing together so much. Every time we play we are so excited.
“I think we’re all living the dream. I think we all dreamed of being here, on the bigger stage and in the best competition in the world. You see every week how competitive and how good it is.
“We want to fight for trophies and that’s what we’re going to do. Try to be there and push every day.”
Arsenal’s next action will be against Sheffield United next Monday.
Arsenal continued their good form with an emphatic win over Newcastle in the Emirates
Bukayo Saka’s corner caused major damage and led to Sven Botman finding the back of his own net
Kai Havertz doubled Arsenal’s lead after 24 minutes with a close-range finish
Bukayo Saka continued his rich run of form to make it three after 65 minutes
Jakub Kiwior scored a goal four minutes later, his header going in off a Rice corner