Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka in full agreement over claim Arsenal ‘rattled’ in title race

Arsenal prevailed 3-2 in the North London derby against Tottenham despite goals from Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min prompting a late scare for the Premier League title challengers.

Arsenal stars Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka believe their side are showing they have the mentality to compete at the business end of the season.

Mikel Arteta’s side were victorious over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon to continue to set the pace at the top of the Premier League, albeit with Man City holding games in hand. The club find themselves in an eerily similar position to 12 months ago and will now hope they can maintain their form while City slip up.

Arsenal survived a scare against their north London rivals on Sunday. The Gunners cut through their opponent’s in the opening half and made them pay for weakness from set pieces to go 3-0 up through Saka and Kai Havertz after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s own goal.

They were tested, however. Cristian Romero’s goal, after David Raya’s error, and Son Heung-min’s penalty ensured a nervous end to proceedings for the visitors. Odegaard believes that Arsenal’s ability to hang on to the three points goes some way to proving they have grown from last season when adversity was followed by defeat.

It was put to the Norway ace that Arsenal would get ‘rattled’ when they conceded 12 months ago. Odegaard replied: “Yeah, I think so. I think how we react now after a tough week of the Villa game and going out of the Champions League and to come back and put on performances and results like we have done lately is a massive compliment to the whole team and the mindset.

Today was another example of how we fight for each other and we never give up and how much we want to do this.”

Saka expressed a similar sentiment in his discussions with Sky Sports. The Arsenal youth product noted that his side may have let their lead slip in 2022/23. “We showed that today,” he said. “Maybe last season that could have ended in a draw and we showed we have the experience.”