Mikel Arteta told to make brutal Martin Odegaard decision after Arsenal's Newcastle win

Arsenal legend Perry Groves believes that Mikel Arteta should think about dropping Gunners skipper Martin Odegaard to the substitutes' bench. The Norway international has struggled to get going this campaign with Arsenal, managing only one assist across five outings for Arteta's squad thus far.

However, that contribution did arrive during the Gunners' crucial 2-1 triumph at Newcastle United on Sunday as Arteta's side closed to within two points of table-toppers Liverpool. Supporters in north London will now be hoping that Odegaard's match-winning display in the North East might spark an improvement in his performances.

Arsenal welcome Olympiacos in the Champions League on Wednesday before taking on West Ham United this Saturday afternoon. Yet former Gunners winger Groves has expressed his belief that Odegaard would gain from a spell out of the first team to rediscover his peak form.

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"Not through a lack of effort but he hasn't been himself because of injuries," he said, via the Metro.

"He hasn't been his free-flowing, creative self. But what happens now is Eze comes in, and when you're at a massive club, you have to lift your own personal performance, and that will spur Odegaard on.

"If you look at Sunday when Odegaard came on, he got straight into the pace of the game, and he ends up obviously getting the assist for the goal with a brilliant delivery from the corner.

"So I think what happens with the top players is being on the bench inspires you to reach another level, and the beauty with Arsenal's squad depth is that they can do that and rotate their options now."

He added: "With the subs now, there's no drop off in the standard because there's no drop off in the player.

"And what that means is, when you come on with 25 minutes, 30 minutes ago, the actual level of the team goes up because obviously those players are coming on fresh.

"And when you're playing against Arsenal, you're thinking, oh, there's no respite, it's relentless.

"That's exactly what Man City were like in their pomp."

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