Martin Odegaard admitted Arsenal ‘were a bit sloppy’ after the Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Arsenal missed the chance to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool after drawing at Craven Cottage on Sunday. The North Londoners fell behind to an early Raul Jimenez goal, as the Mexican raced onto Kenny Tete’s through ball and fired a finish across David Raya.
Arsenal found a leveller after half-time in familiar fashion. A deep corner kick was headed back across goal and William Saliba turned in to score for the second successive game.
The Gunners pushed for a winner and thought they had found it late on, when Gabriel Martinelli picked out Bukayo Saka to head home in the final minutes. However, Arsenal celebrations were cut short after Martinelli had strayed offside in the build-up and VAR disallowed the effort.
The draw leaves Arsenal six points behind Liverpool, having played a game more. Odegaard reflected on the result and said Arsenal are not interested in results elsewhere. He insisted Mikel Arteta’s team can only focus on themselves in their bid to get back into the title race.
“We dominated most of the game. The first half wasn’t great. We were a bit sloppy and lacked energy and power. The second half was a lot better. It’s frustrating not to win. We were close in the end with the goal,” Sky Sports.
“They’re a good team. They know how to defend. A solid block. We didn’t do enough today. We have to learn from that and straight back in for the next one.
“We have to focus on ourselves. We don’t care about the other teams [in the title race].
“We did a lot of good things. We have to do more and put the ball in the box more times. Maybe be a bit more direct and aggressive. We could have won it in the end.
“It’s a very long way to go. We’ve said hundreds of times we have to keep going game by game.”
