Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has revealed that he didn’t instruct Odegaard to take the penalty during their hard-fought win over Crystal Palace on Monday night.
According to the gaffer, he was just as ‘surprised’ to see his captain step up to take the spot kick after Eddie Nketiah was brought down in the area by Sam Johnstone.
Odegaard decided to take the penalty that gave the Gunners a deserved 1-0 victory against Crystal Palace.
Saka is Arsenal’s penalty taker but Odegaard decided to take the spot-kick against Crystal Palace and it turned out to be the winner.
The Spaniard told reporters that he had played no part in the decision.
“I have no clue, it’s about the leadership of players, and if they felt it was the right thing to do, for me I’m fine,” he said.
“They have to make those decisions on the pitch. I was surprised like everybody else, but he scored the goal, which is the important thing and we won the game.”
Arsenal joined Brighton and Manchester City as joint top leaders in the English Premier League after recording two wins in two games so far in the Premiership.