^ ^ ‘Best player on the pitch’ – Peter Schmeichel drools over Arsenal star after win over Chelsea

Martin Odegaard was the ‘best player on the pitch’ in Arsenal’s victory, says Peter Schmeichel (Picture: Getty)

Peter Schmeichel picked out Martin Odegaard for special praise after Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea, claiming no other team in the country has a player of such ‘quality’.

Odegaard scored what proved to be the decisive goal as Arsenal, the reigning Premier League champions, overcame their bitter London rivals to emerge from the Emirates with maximum points.

The Gunners were forced to come from behind in Sunday’s compelling derby after Morgan Rogers volleyed the visitors in front in only the second minute.

Former Chelsea forward Kai Havertz squeezed the ball past Emiliano Martinez to make it all square midway through the first half, before Odegaard kept his cool to give the hosts the lead just five minutes after the restart.

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The result means Arsenal are now unbeaten in their last 12 encounters with Chelsea, dating back to the latter’s 2-1 victory at the Emirates in August 2021.

It leaves Mikel Arteta’s side level on points with Manchester City at the top of the table, while Chelsea remain in fourth – three points adrift of the pacesetters at this embryonic stage of the season.

‘I’ve seen that thing that no one else has in this league. Every time they lose the ball, it feels like there’s an extra Arsenal player on the pitch,’ former Manchester United goalkeeper Schmeichel said on Viaplay of Arsenal’s performance.

Arsenal captain Odegaard scored the winning goal in the derby (Picture: Reuters)

The Gunners went level with City at the top with the victory (Picture: Matt Impey/Shutterstock)

‘We talked about predictions before the game, this is what I’ve seen in the first two games.

‘No other team has that kind of work-rate, organised work-rate, and also the ability to do it.

‘It’s one thing organising yourself in doing it, the other thing is having the energy and you could see as the game progressed with the substitutions, you don’t see a difference. It’s the same thing.’

Schmeichel went on to highlighted Odegaard’s vital importance to Arsenal, stating: ‘My God, how good is he? For me, he was the best player on the pitch.

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‘Of course, we are seeing, we are noticing, what kind of player we like.

‘This guy… what he does for this team is just so impressive. He’s technically so good.

‘What he sees, nobody else sees that. Take him out of Arsenal’s team and it’s very, very difficult to see what would happen then.

‘I don’t think there’s a team in the country that has a player of that quality.’

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Schmeichel’s Viaplay colleague and former team-mate Jaap Stam was also mightily impressed by Arsenal’s showing against a team many have been tipping as potential title contenders.

The ex-United and Netherlands centre-back was especially glowing with his praise for Havertz, suggesting the German had ‘proven’ his doubters wrong.

‘In the past, people were asking whether he’s the ideal number nine,’ Stam said.

Havertz has ‘proven’ his doubters wrong at Arsenal, says Jaap Stam (Picture: Getty)

‘Well I think he’s proven very much that he’s a top-class player and very important for this Arsenal side.

‘Mikel Arteta of course wants to have a striker, a number nine, who can drop into certain areas to link up with other players in the midfield, with Odegaard, or on the side with the wingers.

‘Havertz is one of the best players to do so in this squad and he played a tremendous game.’

Arsenal kick off their Champions League campaign at Serie A giants Napoli on Wednesday night before returning to top-flight action with a tough away trip at Sunderland next weekend.

Chelsea, meanwhile, face high-flying Hull in their next Premier League contest.

First, though, Alonso’s men do battle with Leeds in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening.

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^ ^ Rio Ferdinand disagrees with Michael Carrick decision after Man Utd draw with Everton

Michael Carrick has had a sticky start to the season as Manchester United manager (Picture: Shutterstock)

Rio Ferdinand does not think Michael Carrick is picking the right centre-backs after Manchester United were held to a 2-2 draw at Everton.

The Red Devils continued a mixed start to the season with the draw at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, twice taking the lead and twice being pegged back.

Benjamin Sesko looked like he had headed in the winner on 88 minutes, but a stunning Ainsley Maitland-Niles strike levelled for the Toffees six minutes into injury time.

That means it is just four points from United’s first three games, the other two of which have been against newly-promoted sides Hull City and Ipswich Town.

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Carrick’s team has conceded six goals in three league games and Ferdinand thinks he is not getting it right at centre-back, suggesting Leny Yoro or Ayden Heaven should be in the starting XI.

At Everton and against Ipswich, both were on the bench as Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez started in the heart of defence.

Ferdinand accepts that Yoro has not progressed as much as hoped since signing from Lille in 2024, but either he or Heaven should be in the backline for their pace.

Leny Yoro has only made substitute appearances this season so far (Picture: Getty Images)

‘We bought Yoro. We bought Heaven. Yoro I thought he would be a bit further ahead than he is now, he’s taken a little bit longer to push up that ceiling and fulfil that potential. I think it’s still going to come, but I think it’s been slower than anticipated, 100 per cent,’ the former United star said on Rio Ferdinand Presents.

‘Heaven, I think he could play now, but the manager’s making a choice and decision and he wants to go with what he’s got, but I would always have one of those two in the backline just for pace at this level, 100 per cent.

‘There’s players in the building at centre-half, there’s five players there. Obviously [Mathijs] De Ligt’s not fit.’

Ayden Heaven started against Hull City in the first game of the season (Picture: REUTERS)

Gary Neville sees Manchester United’s defence as a huge issue, but disagrees with Ferdinand on Carrick’s options at centre-back.

He does not think he has ‘much behind’ the starting pair of Maguire and Martinez and has questioned why Carrick made changes at full-back during the game at Everton.

‘Manchester United are conceding two goals a game. From a United perspective you cannot concede two goals a game,’ he said on the Gary Neville Podcast.

‘This liability of conceding goals, I don’t think it’s going to go away and that is my big fear, I don’t think it’s going to go away. I think conceding goals is going to chase them and hunt them down the road.

‘I don’t know how Michael deals with it because he’s got his best back four on the pitch.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored a brilliant late equaliser for Everton (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I don’t know why Luke Shaw went off with five minutes to go, hopefully he’s not injured. I don’t know why Dalot went off with five minutes to go. I’ve seen it twice now, both of them have come off in two games.

‘To be fair, Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag used to change their back four a lot as well. You can’t be changing your back four.

‘If you’ve got [Arsenal’s Piero] Hincapie to come on for [Riccardo] Calafiori, maybe you can. But Manchester United have got a back four of Shaw, Dalot, Maguire and Lisandro Martinez and they’ve not got much behind that.

‘So you can’t really change your back four at 1-0 or 2-1. It’s not ideal and that is a concern.’

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^ ^ Arsenal would have targeted Tottenham duo if they missed out on £51m signing

Arsenal backed Mikel Arteta with five first-team additions in the summer transfer market (Picture: Getty)

Arsenal were reportedly ready to turn to Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven as transfer targets at centre-back had they missed out on a deal for Ezri Konsa.

The Gunners set out their stall right from the start of the summer and finished with five first-team additions, with Bruno Guimaraes, Piero Hincapie, Christos Tzolis, Illan Meslier and Konsa all signing on the dotted line in north London.

After bringing their 22-year wait for a Premier League title to an end, Arsenal’s hierarchy made it clear they were prepared to back Mikel Arteta with ample funds in the transfer market to give the Spaniard the best possible chance for the season ahead.

There was, though, a sense of disappointment on deadline day as the English champions failed in their pursuit of a top-class attacker to help fill the void left by the departures of both Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli.

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According to the BBC’s Sami Mokbel, Arsenal bosses had drawn up a shortlist containing more than 20 players at the start of the transfer window, including high-profile attacking talents Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Junior and Joao Pedro.

In defence, meanwhile, the north Londoners were said to have been monitoring developments surrounding Sassuolo’s Tarik Muharemovic, Como’s Jacobo Ramon and England international Konsa – who would join from Aston Villa in a £51million deal.

It’s claimed Tottenham centre-backs Romero and Van de Ven had also been identified amongst Arsenal’s top targets in the event that they had failed in their efforts to tie down Konsa.

The Gunners signed Konsa from Villa for a fee of £51m (Picture: Getty)

Romero left Spurs to join Atletico Madrid (Picture: Gardin/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

However, the report underlines that Spurs would not have entertained an approach from from their bitter rivals, with Sol Campbell the last player to make the controversial move back in 2001.

Romero – Tottenham’s captain last season – would go on to complete a switch from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to La Liga giants Atletico Madrid in a deal worth in the region of £34million.

Van de Ven in the end decided to stay put amid strong interest from across Europe, with the Netherlands international putting pen to paper on a five-year contract last month.

Roberto De Zerbi would go on to name Van de Ven as the club’s new captain, with the Dutchman making his return from injury in the side’s goalless draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Van de Ven took over the reins from Romero as Tottenham captain (Picture: Wired Photos/Shutterstock)

Despite Arsenal’s failure to bring in a left-sided attacker on deadline day, Arteta insisted he was satisfied with the club’s business in the transfer market.

‘Yeah, 100 per cent,’ the Arsenal head coach told reporters on Friday.

‘The outcome after can be different to what you expect but the intention is certainly there which is in my opinion what I value the most.

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‘It doesn’t depend on you only. I think Andrea [Berta, sporting director] is better, or Josh [Kronke, co-chariman], to talk about that [how hard those deals are to do], because I am not in those negotiations.

‘They know much better than me. These are questions that are related to the market and all aspects that I think it is better they speak about it.’

When it was put to Arteta that the prices of players had skyrocketed, the Spaniard replied: ‘It looks like it.

Arteta’s side welcome Chelsea to the Emirates this weekend (Picture: Getty)

‘I’m sure that when this happens, it is because there has been an analysis behind it that this is going to be sustainable and other resources will appear, or the valuation of every player will be then much higher and it will be done in a sustainable way.

‘But again, that is something for the Premier League and the owners to look at and evaluate.’

The reigning champions ensured they got their title defence off to the perfect start with victories over newly promoted Coventry City and Aston Villa.

Arteta’s men will hope to pick up where they left off when they return to action for what promises to be a compelling London derby with a resurgent Chelsea this afternoon.

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^ ^ Xabi Alonso names two Chelsea youngsters in his plans ahead of Arsenal clash

Alonso happy with his midfield options (Picture: Chelsea FC)

Xabi Alonso has no concerns over the depth of his midfield options after Chelsea failed to bring in a replacement for Enzo Fernandez on transfer deadline day.

Fernandez completed his £120million switch to Manchester City with the Blues turning to Monaco’s Lamine Camara to fill the void, agreeing a £47million transfer fee with the Ligue 1 side.

Monaco pulled the plug at the last minute, however, much to Chelsea’s frustration.

Fernandez formed a formidable partnership with Mosies Caicedo for much of his time at Stamford Bridge with the latter expected to be a key figure under Alonso.

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The Ecuador international is an injury doubt for Sunday’s trip to Arsenal however after he was forced off just minutes after coming off the bench against Brighton last weekend.

Romeo Lavia has had an excellent start to the season, starting both games this season in midfield. The Belgian could have a key role to play this term but has struggled with injury for most of his career in west London, starting just 17 league matches since joining in 2023.

Valentin Barco was another summer recruit in midfield with Jordan Henderson also joining to provide experience and leadership in a young dressing room.

Watson was in the squad in the Carabao Cup against Luton (Picture: Chan/Action Plus/Shutterstock)

Ahead of the trip to the Emirates, Alonso named two of the club’s brightest academy products in Reggie Watson and Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli as players who will also be in his thinking this term.

‘We have different qualities, personalities, like Valentin, he is young but he has come with great energy,’ Alonso told a press conference on Friday.

‘We have Hendo, he has the composure, the mentality, he knows what is going on in the game so he is getting closer and closer to playing time.

Nicoll-Jazuli featured during pre-season (Picture: Getty)

‘With Romeo [Lavia], Reece [James] as well, even Malo [Gusto] can play, [Reggie] Watson as well, Mahdi [Nicoll-Jazuli] from the academy.

‘We have options and we need to have the right balance and we think that we have quality, competitiveness for all the season and to face each opponent.’

16-year-old Watson, son of former Crystal Palace and Wigan midfielder Ben, has been training with the first-team having also been involved in the pre-season tour of Australia. He was also an unused substitute in the Carabao Cup win over Luton Town in August.

Nicoll-Jazuli, also 16, was also involved in the summer tour, playing against Tottenham before starting against Juventus in Hong Kong.

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