Odegaard on Real reunion, Chelsea and Saka's rehab

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 this afternoon's Champions League game against Chelsea, Martin discusses the prospect of facing his former club in the Champions League, the challenge of the Blues and how Bukayo Saka is doing as he aims to recover from injury. Here is a snippet:

For the second season in a row we are in the quarter-final of the Champions League, but we want to go much further. We remember that feeling we had when Bayern knocked us out last season and we are all determined to put that right. 

Of course it will be a huge couple of matches against Real Madrid, and for me personally it will be special to play against my former team. We believe in ourselves and we know what we can do, and our form in the Champions League has been very strong, winning seven of our 10 matches so far. We can’t wait for that first leg here at Emirates Stadium next month. It’s going to be a beautiful night.

But before that we have some massive games in the Premier League, and all our focus now is on facing Chelsea today. The task for us is simple: we go into every game looking to win. Obviously Liverpool are ahead, but let's keep going and looking for the wins like we always do, so nothing has changed on that. Let’s focus on ourselves, keep going and see where we can take it.

One thing is for sure, we will fight until the end. That’s the mindset of everyone. We’ve been fighting three years in a row for the title and we know in football everything is possible. The main thing is just to keep going and keep working hard and day-by-day to get better and win the games.

We’ve got a big game today – another London derby against Chelsea, and we’ve done well in these games lately, and our home form this season is good, so we need another strong performance again today. Let’s win our duels, compete all over the pitch and play the game how we want to, and hopefully take the three points.

It was great to see Gabi come back from injury last week against Man United, and hopefully Bukayo won’t be too far behind him. He’s around us every day at Sobha, and he’s so determined to come back as soon as he can. I know what it’s like when you feel you are so close to being able to play, but not quite there, you feel you are ready. But he just has to make sure he takes his time and is fully sharp when he does get back out on the pitch. He’s getting closer, and we want to see him back as well of course because losing his qualities is a big miss for any team.

Read the rest of Martin's notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Chelsea programme either around the stadium or online.