In the Premier League at 23:30 tonight, Arsenal will play against Manchester City at home. Before hosting Manchester City at home, Arsenal captain Odegao shared his views on his personal injury, team lineup and the battle.
First of all, can you talk about your injuries?
My shoulders hurt very much, but this week I'm working hard to recover every day, hoping to prepare for today's game in time. This is the same shoulder I injured against Leeds United before, almost the same injury, so it's really just a bad luck.
How do you evaluate the team's performance in the last game against Nottingham Forest?
We played a very solid game. We scored a few nice goals and didn't give a chance to the phone at all, which is exactly what you want. Suvimenti's first goal was incredible, and that kind of shot was extremely difficult.
How do you feel when you partnered with Suvimenti and Merino in the midfield again?
It's great to be able to partner with him and Merino again in the midfield, like we did at Real Sociedad five years ago! We had a good understanding before, and it was great to be able to play football with them. I think knowing each other very well like this will make things easier, especially in the midfield. So even if Suvimenti is new, the connection between us already exists, which is an advantage for us.
What do you think about the depth of the lineup this season?
We took a group photo of the whole team on Wednesday and saw everyone standing together, which reminds you of the strength we have in the team now. I think our roster is bigger than in the past few years and is incredibly high. We see this every day in training, and the competition is much more intense. We all want to win trophys here, and to do that, we need everyone to work together and keep pace.
What are your prospects for today's game against Manchester City?
We entered every game with the same mentality, including today's match against Manchester City. It was a great experience for us to beat them here last season because it was always tough to play with them.
The competition is always very tactical, and there are many things that you need to adapt to during the competition. You have to stay highly sensitive for a full 90 minutes. I think in the last few games against them, we've shown that we're ready and hopefully we'll have another wonderful night like we did last season and beat them again.