Arsenal

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Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard says the team "want to win everything" as they seek a second trophy under Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners hit the ground running under the Spaniard when they won the FA Cup in his first season in charge in 2020.

However, despite challenging for the Premier League title in the past two seasons and returning to the Champions League last campaign, they have yet to add to the silverware in his five years in charge.

They are currently fighting on four fronts this season and have the opportunity to improve their position in Europe when they take on Monaco on Wednesday.

"If you do that [win a trophy] then everyone will remember you because you write history and I think that's the feeling from everyone in the squad and the team. We want to do something really special," Odegaard told a pre-match news conference.

"We want to win everything basically - that's the mindset of everyone. We want to win trophies, we want to win every time we play and we all share that mindset. We want to win and make sure the trophies come to the club."

One player who they will be hoping can help them achieve that in the years to come will be young midfielder Ethan Nwaneri.

The 17-year-old has already scored four goals in his 12 appearances so far this season and Odegaard has been trying to use his own experience to guide the academy graduate.

"I've been trying to help him in many different ways. For a young player, sometimes it's just to help him be himself and feel natural," the Norway international said.

"Everyone can see the quality he has and for him it's just about showing that, enjoying it and keep improving all the time.

"He is doing amazing. For his age to play the way he plays with such confidence and such eagerness and always show his qualities - I'm really happy for him and proud of him for what he is doing."

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney could be in line to make his first appearance for the club in over a year.

Mikel Arteta's side have been hit with an injury crisis and Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey were not seen in the open part of Arsenal's training session before the Champions League game against Monaco on Wednesday.

That could mean that Tierney, who has not played for Arsenal since August 2023 in the Community Shield against Manchester City, following injury issues and a loan to Real Sociedad could be called upon.

"He is training really well. He's going to have opportunity, for sure, with the way the team is looking," Arteta said.

"He is going to do that for a reason as well because he has earned it. The way he has behaved - he has been with us, he is willing to do it."

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Champions League game against Monaco (kick-off 20:00).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Arteta confirmed they will have to make late calls on the availability of players as "some of them will not be fit and available".

• He said the injury situation "is what it is" and added: "We have to accept reality and move forwards."

• On why these injury issues keep happening: "It is a knock-on. We have lots of joint injuries which are very difficult to predict ourselves. We have some through tackles which are difficult to avoid. Then other ones from overload and knock-on affect of having one or two players not available means you put more strain and minutes on someone else. That is not a good change."

• The Arsenal boss said he is "really pleased" with the way they are playing.

• On what they have learned from their Champions League experiences this season and last: "We have to do a lot of things we do in the Premier League. The tendency is to look at the Champions League like it is something else. We face incredibly difficult opposition every week. That is the good thing. When we come up against a team like Monaco, who have done incredibly well, we are so used to it because we play every three days against this kind of opponent."

• Arteta confirmed that left-back Kiernan Tierney "is ready" to come into the team: "He is training really well. He's going to have opportunity for sure with the way the team is looking. He is going to do that for a reason as well because he has earned it. The way he has behaved, has been with us, he is willing to do it."

• He said Gabriel Jesus' "attitude is really good - it always is" despite the forward only scoring once in 31 games. When asked about reports the Brazil international could leave in January, Arteta responded: "No, nonsense".

• On whether he is worried they are not creating enough away from set-pieces: "We always want to create more from every angle. Set-pieces are a consequence of what we do. That phase [open play] is a part of that. Open play and set-pieces are all together."

Catch up on all of Tuesday's football news and updates

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

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It appears as though Mikel Arteta has some fresh injury concerns before Arsenal's game against Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

There was no sign of Jurrien Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori or Thomas Partey during their open training session on Tuesday afternoon.

That means Arteta's Gunners could be without six defenders as they are also already without Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Everyone is talking about Arsenal's set-pieces and their failure to score from open play, but is that the only thing worth raising at Emirates Stadium?

You know the Gunners best, so tell us what's the one issue - good or bad - nobody is talking about?

Have your say here

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Across the first five Champions League games this season, only Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala had a higher expected assist total (2.17) than Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli (2.15).

Monaco have won five of their past seven matches against English sides in the Champions League, beating Arsenal in that run. However, this will be their first game against a side from England since beating Manchester City 3-1 in March 2017.

Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona are ready to battle it out for 24-year-old Lille and Canada forward Jonathan David, who is out of contract in the summer. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish), external

Meanwhile, the Gunners could also be set to compete with Manchester United for Luis Campos, Paris St-Germain's football adviser. (ipaper), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Laura Kirk-Francis
Fan writer

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If you were to sum up Arsenal's season so far, you might say the last two results are a perfect representation of why it feels once again like the title is slipping away.

On Wednesday, Arsenal registered an impressive win over Manchester United, but followed it up on Sunday with a hugely frustrating draw away at Fulham.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

There is much to celebrate about Arsenal in 2024, especially the ruthless efficiency from set-pieces and intricate passages of play now Martin Odegaard has returned.

The second half of Wednesday's win served as a reminder of what Arsenal are capable of, and how superior they are to their former rivals. On the back of this performance, fans would have felt confident going into Sunday's trip to Fulham, despite the 1-0 loss on New Year's Eve last season.

Twelves minutes in, Arsenal were behind, despite having completely dominated Fulham from kick-off. They continued to probe for the rest of the game, but without the feeling a goal was inevitable. It was the same performance that saw them struggle past Leicester and Southampton earlier this season.

On both those occasions, they found a way through. Not this time.

This lack of consistency is infuriating. When set-pieces have dried up, and teams double and triple mark Bukayo Saka, Arsenal look stumped. In comparison to title rivals Liverpool, Arsenal do not have a Mohamed Salah to produce the piece of magic that they need when nothing else is working.

As they go into a busy Christmas schedule, Arsenal must look to that second half against Manchester United and produce it again - on repeat - until May.

Find more from Laura Kirk-Francis at the Latte Firm podcast, external

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BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty has been answering your questions.

Richard Peel asked: Are Arsenal really so reliant on set-pieces, and if teams work out how to stop them are they in a fight for the top four rather than the title?

Phil answered: Hi, Richard. I really don't think Arsenal are over-reliant on set-pieces, they are just very good at them.

If you look at Arsenal's team, lots of goals can come from elsewhere, they just happen to be scoring from set pieces at the moment.

What I do feel, however, and I have stated this on several occasions, is that Arsenal's failure to sign a recognised 20-goals a season striker could hurt them over the course of the campaign and I still feel that.

I still think they can mount a title challenge but they have a real fight on their hands with Liverpool in front and Chelsea looking so good. For further insight on this question, I will direct you to an excellent piece by my colleague Sean Kearns on this very subject.

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Every Arsenal player "believes" the side are going to score when they have a set-piece as they are "so good" at them, says captain Martin Odegaard.

William Saliba's equalising goal against Fulham on Sunday was the third in a row that the Gunners have scored from a corner as opposition defenders continue to struggle with their threat in the box.

A deep corner from Declan Rice was headed back across goal by Kai Havertz and onto the foot of Saliba, who tapped home from inside the six-yard box.

It was the ninth time Mikel Arteta's side had scored from a set-piece in the league this season and the 23rd goal that Arsenal have scored from a corner since the start of last term - more than any other side in Europe's biggest leagues.

"We're so good at it and everyone believes that when we have a set-piece, we're going to score," said Odegaard.

"And [against Fulham] we did, and we could have scored a few more to be honest. That's a good thing and we just have to keep that up."

With Everton's trip to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday before matches against Crystal Palace and Ipswich, Arsenal now have a run of what could be considered more favourable fixtures.

With their inconsistency this campaign, there is increasingly little margin for error if Arteta hopes to lead the club to a first title since 2004 having dropped to third in the table.

"The mood obviously now is disappointed because we didn't win, but we have to move on to the next, they come so quickly now," Odegaard added.

"There's no time to be too disappointed, we have to move on and make sure we win the next one and that's it."

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We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Fulham and Arsenal.

Here are some of your comments:

Fulham fans

Aidan: What a defensive performance. Sasa Lukic and Sander Berge were absolutely amazing. Raul Jimenez also had a great game, and started the game off with a brilliant finish across the goal. We were unlucky to concede, after defending corners so well all game, but the rest of our defensive game cancelled out the setback of that goal. A game that ended with one point that I was extremely happy with.

Toppy: Pragmatic approach from the manager backed up by quality from his players - this has the potential to be Fulham's best season. We can beat anyone.

Terry: Fulham played very well and when needed Bernd Leno was at his usual brilliant best. Great goal by Jimenez. Arsenal main tactic seems to be to win free-kicks and corners and muscle their way to goals. Hopefully, teams will find a better way to stop them.

David: I had expected us to lose this game but another solid performance gave us a draw which felt like a win. Three tough fixtures in a week were navigated well. Berge impressive again - so calm and assured. Leno too had an excellent game - I don't understand why Arsenal let him go.

Arsenal fans

Phil: Once again we struggled to break down teams who double up on Bukayo Saka. This is becoming a recurring problem that we need to find a way round. There is simply not enough coming down our left side to give us an option. Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard need to do much more to impact games . We can't keep relying on dead-ball situations for goals.

Vince: Points were dropped yes but Fulham are no slouches. On current form they're above Man Utd U and Spurs, so I wouldn't be too despondent. That said, we lacked the usual urgency and flair in the first half when we went behind and I couldn't help thinking a natural striker would have put away one of those many crosses from Rice, Saka and Trossard. Food for thought when the transfer window opens next month.

Daniel: Normal Arsenal performance this season. Slow first half and then too little too late. Poor performances from majority of the team. Only players who stood up were Declan Rice and William Saliba!

Guy: Dominating possession doesn't matter. What matters is putting the ball in the back of the net and we simply aren't good enough at that. I'm sure I won't be the first to say it but Mikel Arteta out - we haven't improved in three years. This was a problem then as it is now. We need a manager who knows how to win.

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Former West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker says Arsenal still miss a clinical striker to get them over the line in games where they struggle to break teams down.

Sunday's damaging draw at Fulham left the Gunners third, six points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more. William Saliba's goal once again came from a corner and Reo-Coker believes finding the net from open play is an issue.

"It is becoming a little bit of a problem," he told the Football Daily podcast. "It's the conversation about missing a striker.

"The reality is a striker would have that X-factor. You look at Alexander Isak at Newcastle and the form he is in - if Isak was in this team, it would it give Arsenal a completely different dynamic.

"[Martin] Odegaard is the genius he is but teams are starting to slightly work Arsenal out a little bit in terms of keeping him and [Bukayo] Saka quiet down that right side.

"They struggled to have any different ideas. When you don't have that natural striker who gives you another option of balls into the box to open the game then that's a problem right now. That's the issue for Arsenal but they can still rely on their set-pieces."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Sean Kearns
BBC Sport

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William Saliba's equaliser at Craven Cottage on Sunday was the 23rd goal that Arsenal had scored from a corner since the start of last season - more than any other side in Europe's biggest leagues.

The Gunners had 39 minutes and added time to find a winner but, in truth, they rarely threatened Fulham's goal from open play.

However, Arteta disagreed when asked if the Gunners have become too reliant on set-pieces to score.

"We should have scored from different ways as well because we had some big chances," the Arsenal boss told BBC Sport.

The Gunners produced an expected goals (xG) of 2.0 during the game at Craven Cottage, meaning they could have reasonably expected to have scored twice from the chances they created.

But a look at the Gunners' xG from open play - which excludes chances created from free-kicks and corners - tells a slightly different story.

At Fulham, the Gunners accumulated an xG of just 0.3 from open play - which is their second lowest this season behind the 0.18 they managed during the 2-2 draw against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium in September.

Over the course of the season, Arsenal's open play xG is 15.9 from their 15 Premier League matches - which would rank them 10th in the league.

In those 15 matches, the Gunners have recorded an open play xG of 1.0 or below 10 times.

Of the 27 goals (excluding penalties) they have scored during the Premier League this season, nine have come from set-pieces, which is 33.33% of their overall tally.

Only Nottingham Forest (35.3%), Crystal Palace (38.5%) and Everton (57.1%) have scored a higher percentage of their non-penalty goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this term.

Asked in his news conference if his side are creating enough from open play, Arteta replied: "It's never enough if you don't score three, four or five."

Read the full article on Arsenal's set pieces here

Mark Chapman presents highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to Sunday's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Fulham 1-1 Arsenal

• Leicester City 2-2 Brighton

• Tottenham 3-4 Chelsea

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United remain interested in Dusan Vlahovic, with Juventus considering selling the 24-year-old Serbia striker unless he agrees a new contract. (TBR Football), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Arsenal were left to rue a missed opportunity to move to within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool after being held by Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Bukayo Saka thought he had given the Gunners all three points when he headed in from close range two minutes from time in west London.

But the goal was chalked off following a VAR review, which found Gabriel Martinelli was offside during the build-up.

Raul Jimenez had given Fulham the lead in the first half when he slotted past David Raya from a tight angle for his sixth goal of the season.

Arsenal mustered just a single shot on target during the first half, with former Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno saving well from Saka.

The Gunners were level within six minutes of the second half when William Saliba converted after a well worked corner kick routine that saw Kai Havertz set-up the Frenchman.

Arsenal dominated for the remainder of the game and thought they had found a winner through Saka, only for the VAR to intervene to ensure Fulham earned a point.

The draw leaves Arsenal second, six points behind Liverpool having played a game more.

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Mikel Arteta spoke to BBC Sport after Arsenal's draw against Fulham: "Very disappointed not to win the game, overall we absolutely dominated the game from start to end, we did all the things that we wanted to do during the game and unfortunately we concede one goal in one shot but the way the team played, the way the team wanted to win, it was unbelievable and very unfortunate for millimetres to win or don't win in this league and that's the disappointing thing tonight."

On Arsenal's response to going behind: "The way we started was unbelievable, we started to dominate the ball, dominate the high press. dominate every aspect of the game and suddenly you're one goal down and that's the quality of this league as well. You're 1-0 down but the team reacted immediately, you score the goal and we wanted another one. We fight until the end and unfortunately we didn't get the reward today."

On scoring from a set piece again: "We should've scored from very different ways as well because we had some big chances."

On not capitalising on Liverpool's postponed game: "Yeah, we have really good momentum, the teams playing really well, winning a lot of games and today we wanted to do it again but the performance 100% was there. The winning probability would be so high but this is football and the margins are so small.

On defensive injuries: "I don't know but unfortunately we lost a lot of defenders. We have to adapt, we're playing with two players who've never played in that position with Thomas [Partey] and Jurrien [Timber] but we're still playing the way we want to play so credit to the boys, they really want it."

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Since the start of the 2022-23 season, the only defender to have scored more goals from set pieces than William Saliba (six) in the Premier League is Arsenal teammate Gabriel Magalhaes (10).

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Fulham’s performance

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Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies