Martin Odegaard blasts 'stupid' Arsenal decisions in West Ham slip-up

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Martin Odegaard blasts 'stupid' Arsenal decisions in West Ham slip-up

Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard confessed that 'stupid things' have crept into the Gunners' performances in recent weeks after two damaging results in quick succession.

Mikel Arteta's side threw away a two-goal lead last weekend to draw 2-2 with Liverpool before doing the same thing in Sunday's draw with West Ham, weakening their position in a hotly contested Premier League title race.

While Arsenal do still have a four-point lead over Manchester City, the Gunners have played one game more than their opponents and also have to travel to the Etihad to face Pep Guardiola's in-form side later this month - a game which appears set to decide the fate of the title.

After the West Ham game, captain Odegaard could not hide his frustration towards Arsenal's recent performances.

"A lot of the same things to last week," Odegaard told Sky Sports. "We played really well in the beginning, controlled everything and it went the way we wanted. Then we stopped with that.

"We gave them a little bit of the game they wanted. We gave them hope when they were basically dead. It's on us.

"We started to do a lot of stupid things with the ball and we let them play long balls, they got a lot of throw-ins and corners and we let them play on their qualities.

"We have to make sure this is not a problem. The most important thing is the next game."

Arsenal have the chance to get back to winning ways against bottom of the table Southampton on Friday night, in a welcome home game at the Emirates Stadium.

City, who travel to Germany on Wednesday for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, don't have another Premier League game until the all-important meeting with the Gunners as they will spend the upcoming weekend battling Sheffield United for a place in the FA Cup final.