Arsenalcan settle into their week comfortably with seven days between their win over Liverpool and their next Premier League outing against West Ham.
The Gunners earned three points against the Reds to move within two points of their opponents and enjoyed every moment. Their celebrations came in for criticism from some, as the likes of Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville and Richard Keys questioned the extent of their joy.
Nevertheless, Mikel Arteta and co will feel well in the title-race once again following their 3-1 win. The Spaniard will hope to use the result as a launchpad after poor form saw Arsenal end the year in stuttering fashion.
The north London side will have their attention firmly placed upon the Premier League in a bid to earn silverware, with the Champions League soon to return. Mirror Football takes a look at some of the latest news to emerge from the Emirates Stadium below.
The transfer window slammed shut in stereotypical fashion on Thursday as Arsenal saw no players arrive to strengthen their depth. However, it appears one may have been left ajar to complete one more move.
After being recalled from his loan to Nantes, Marquinhos was widely linked with a return to his native Brazil in January. The 20-year-old is currently participating in an Olympic qualifying tournament as his country fights for its place in Paris this summer.
With games in Venezuela, Marquinhos could be set to remain in south America however. Reports from Brazil, per Sport Witness, suggest that talks with Fluminense boss Fernando Diniz have accelerated the move
However with the qualifying tournament not set to end until February 11th, there could still be a wait before anything is made official. Brazil’s transfer window does not close until March, leaving plenty of time for a deal to be made however, with this one already close.
The Gunners may have enjoyed their victory against Liverpool on Sunday but it appears to have come with a cost. A fee of £25,000 to be exact.
Arteta saw six of his players booked at the Emirates – Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Jakub Kiwior, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz. That is enough to trigger the FA fine.
Despite Arsenal’s array of bookings, Jurgen Klopp was not content with the refereeing in the game as he saw Ibrahima Konate sent off for two yellow cards. He said: “A lot of things were against of us today.
This referee gave me a red card against Man City for wrestling situation between Bernardo Silva and Mo Salah. Today, same situation with [Diogo] Jota but didn’t get a red card.
“It is unbelievable, then the one of holding [Kai] Havertz on Konate for the first yellow card. Then Havertz goes down and the referee gives Konate a yellow card. Gabriel [Magalhaes] does the same to [Darwin] Nunez and no yellow card.”
Martin Odegaard fires back
Arsenal’s captain hit back at those criticising his teams celebrations from Sunday. Odegaard in particular was chastised for taking a photograph of the club’s photographer but made no apologies for enjoying the moment.
The Norwegian international put across a solid argument and hopes his side can build from a good position. He would prefere to be top however.
Odegaard said: “No, I think everyone who loves football and understands football, they know how much it means to win this game. And if you’re not allowed to celebrate when you win, when are you allowed to celebrate?
“We’re happy and we’ll stay humble. After being at the top for so long last season, we always prefer to be at the top, of course.
But we’re still in a good position, we showed today the quality we have in the team, in a big game, a lot to play for. It would have been a tough one for us to lose today – that would have left us eight points behind, but we really showed up and it was a great performance overall.”
