Martin Odegaard is looking to take the positives from a tough end to last season (Picture: Getty Images)
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard hopes his team have learnt lessons from how their title challenge fell short last season, admitting the climax of the campaign was ‘brutal’ for the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta’s men led the Premier League for much of last season but faltered on the home stretch as Manchester City powered to the title.
Both teams are back in the hunt for the title again this season, but they are joined by Liverpool and Aston Villa heading into the new year.
Odegaard hopes that the pain his team suffered last season will prove helpful in the current campaign as they prepare for a trip to Fulham on Sunday.
‘We know the quality of Man City and all the others and we know it’s a very tough league, but we believe in ourselves to keep fighting and improving,’ said the Norwegian. ‘Hopefully we have learnt lessons. It was a brutal end to last season for us.
‘We can use this and show we have gained some good experience.’
Odegaard also admitted that the Gunners need to improve on closing out games after losing 2-0 to West Ham last time out, despite dominating possession, territory and the shots on goal stats.
Arsenal could not make their dominance pay against the Hammers (Picture: Getty Images)
‘That’s what we have to do,’ he said. ‘We are playing a very competitive team, with good players. It’s another big challenge for us.
‘You have to win a lot of games and that’s why every game we have we must play to win.
‘I think we did enough to win against West Ham on Thursday, but we weren’t good enough in front of goal.
‘We have to look at ourselves and what we can do to improve.’
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