Odegaard on tonight’s big opportunity | Carabao Cup | News

Before every game at Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard lifts the lid on the mood in the camp via his captain’s notes published in the matchday programme.

Ahead of tonight’s game against Crystal Palace, the skipper discusses our performance against Everton, Myles Lewis-Skelly making his full debut and our ambitions in the League Cup. Here’s an extract…

We had the chance to gain a few points on some of the teams at the top, but we can’t think too much about the other teams. It’s down to us, we need to focus on ourselves and for us we are annoyed that we didn’t win our last two league matches. Whatever the other teams are doing, we can’t control that, we have to look at ourselves, and make sure get better, and get sharper in those key moments in the game.

I think our defensive work as a team was very good again on Saturday, and it was really good to see Myles Lewis-Skelly make his first start in the Premier League.

It was a big week for him, because he also started in the Champions League as well last Wednesday.

He’s done really well this season, and is showing he’s ready for this level. He’s up for the challenge, and he’s getting the chance to show his qualities now. He’s a top player, he works really hard in training so he fully deserved his chance. He’s taking that opportunity now and it’s great to see a young player like him play with such confidence. I’m sure he’ll get more minutes now.

It’s another reason why the Carabao Cup is important, because we saw in the earlier rounds lots of young players getting a chance, playing at Emirates Stadium and finding out more about playing for the first team.

We’re at the quarter-final stage now, and this is a competition we want to win. We are all desperate to win trophies together and this competition is another chance for that.

We are close to the final now, so we want to make the most of this opportunity, and go all the way.

The big goal for this club is silverware and as a team we are determined to do that, we’ve said that for a long time now. We’re in the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup, and we’re going to fight really hard for the Carabao Cup too.

Let’s take that challenge and hopefully we can have a good night tonight and take another step to the final.

It won’t be easy, Crystal Palace got a good win at the weekend and like any team in the quarter-finals, they will be aiming to win this competition too.

Read the rest of Martin’s notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Crystal Palace programme either around the stadium or online – or get a subscription to receive every edition through your door.