Martin Odegaard makes clear Viktor Gyokeres demand to Arsenal teammates

Martin Odegaard is keen to end Viktor Gyokeres' goal drought after returning from injury for Arsenal. The striker scored three times across his first four matches this season but has now gone five games without a goal.

Odegaard, however, knows what the team needs to do for his fellow Scandinavian. "When you have players like Viktor up front, you have to feed him," the Gunners captain told TNT Sports after their 2-0 win over Olympiacos in the Champions League.

"I thought we did that quite well today, and we have to keep going and keep building on this." Odegaard assisted Bukayo Saka for Arsenal's second goal of the game and played Gyokeres through for their first, which Gabriel Martinelli turned home after the Sweden centre-forward saw his shot saved onto the post.

READ MORE: Thierry Henry explains huge Arsenal difference Mikel Arteta has never had before

READ MORE: Viktor Gyokeres backed to score FORTY goals this season by ambitious Arsenal teammate

"That's what I want to do," the skipper said of his performance, "especially when you have those players up front and especially with Viktor [Gyokeres], he's so aggressive and always starts, always a threat. That's my job, to create things for them.

"In the end, I got the assist; I could have had a few more and scored a goal, but we got the win, and it was good, so I enjoyed it." Odegaard completed his first full 90 minutes since the Premier League's opening weekend on Wednesday evening.

Arteta praised his returning captain during his post-match press conference. "He's got all the licence in the world to go forward, Martin, and to play with that freedom and to play with that level of threat, especially, not only with the passes, but the way he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs, and arriving in really dangerous areas," the manager explained.

"I think he put three people through today to score a goal; he should have scored a goal as well, so great to have him back. He played some very good minutes in Newcastle to help us win the game, and I think today he was phenomenal."

Arteta further commented: "We have to play in our qualities, and we have a front three with that pace as well, with those timings in the runs, and we have plays we can activate, and we have to do that 100 per cent. He did it in Newcastle a few times in 15 minutes, and that's a game that I want from him."

The manager also said: "I think that creativity part is his nature, so it doesn't bring any pressure to him because it's his best ability to generate things that not a lot of players can do. He has total freedom from my side to do and to explore and to tailor his content and to feel the moment and where he needs to generate those spaces, and I think he's certainly done that in the last two games."

Arteta also praised the performance of Gyokeres: "What I sense is that he's doing better and better things every game, and today he was denied a few times on one of the blocks, and then he hit the post, but I think overall his performance was exceptional. Again, his work was really good, and yeah, we want him to be scoring goals, but if he doesn't do that, at least to do everything as he's doing for the team, because he's helping the team a lot."

Asked whether one goal will bring more for Gyokeres, Arteta replied: "I don't know, but hopefully, yes, and hopefully it will be on Saturday." Arsenal host West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon and would go top of the Premier League table with a win, as Liverpool do not play Chelsea until later that evening.

Gabriel Martinelli, meanwhile, is backing his striker to fire for them this season. "It’s really good to play with Martin [Odegaard] there because he’s always trying to find you, when we make the movement, and for Victor as well, his qualities as well, as he likes to go in behind and attack the opposition’s box," the winger said.

"I think him playing with Martin as well is going to be good for him. We are going to try to give him the ball as much as possible to make him score, I don't know, 30 or 40 goals a season.

"We are really happy with him, we trust him, we know his qualities, and he’s one of the top strikers in the world right now. We trust him, and we are trying to give him the confidence to score and to do his best on the pitch to help us."

Join our new WhatsApp community! Click this link to receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.