Football
Arsenal need more from Martin Odegaard and captain has biggest stage yet to step up
Martin Odegaard has become an unlikely scapegoat, particularly because at this stage it is not entirely clear for what he is the scapegoat.
The best captains, of course, always go down with the ship, but Arsenal are by no means sunk yet – quite the opposite, in fact, as they steam down the Seine towards tonight’s Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain, ‘only’ 90 minutes and a couple of goals away from the biggest club game of all.
Rightly or wrongly, the assessment is this: Odegaard’s underwhelming performances have been symbolic of Arsenal’s worrying Premier League drop-off either side of huge European matches over which he has not had the influence he, or anyone else, would like.
