‘We said what we needed’: how half-time chat kept Arsenal fully in title picture

The celebration police were out again for Arsenal and not only because of Mikel Arteta’s adrenaline-fuelled sprint after Leandro Trossard had sealed Sunday’s 3-1 home win over Liverpool in stoppage time.

It was Martin Ødegaard’s decision to grab the club photographer’s camera and take pictures of him in front of a triumphant crowd that brought the red mist down on Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool defender, who was working at the game for Sky Sports.

“Just get down the tunnel,” Carragher fumed. “You’ve won a game, three points, you’ve been brilliant. Back in the title race, get down the tunnel. I’m serious, honestly.”

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Carragher would double down on the opinion in a social media post. “By all means enjoy it but enjoy it by being disciplined,” he wrote.

Ødegaard knew what was coming when the over-celebrating question began and he could not keep the smile from his lips. “I think everyone who loves football, who understands football … they know how much it means to win this game,” the Arsenal captain said. “And if you’re not allowed to celebrate when you win a game, when are you allowed to celebrate?

“We’re happy with the win and we’ll stay humble. We keep working hard and we prepare for the next one but of course you have to be happy when you win.”

Did Ødegaard get any nice photos? “To be honest, I don’t know, it was a bit blurry!” he replied. “But he [the photographer] is such a big Arsenal fan, such a big heart for the club, he’s been here so long … Yeah, I thought it was a nice moment for him to get a good memory as well.”

What made the victory so special, so significant, was the jeopardy around the occasion – defeat would surely have ended Arsenal’s title hopes – and how they recovered from the gut punch of conceding for 1-1 in first-half stoppage time.

It is never a good time to let one in but it was magnified here, Arsenal having dominated until that point and it was such an ugly goal, too. William Saliba got into a dreadful tangle with his goalkeeper, David Raya and, when Luis Díaz nipped in, the ball ended up going in off Gabriel Magalhães.

It felt as though all of Arsenal’s hard work had been rubbed out; the home support were stunned and Arteta would talk of the players being “really affected” during the interval. It presented them with the acid test of their mentality, particularly when Liverpool started the second half brightly. The visitors were the better team for the first 15 minutes of it.

Arsenal suffered. Yet they endured and they turned everything around when Gabriel Martinelli capitalised on a calamitous mix-up between Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to make it 2-1 on 67 minutes. Thereafter, Arsenal kept Liverpool largely at arm’s length. The resilience they showed stands to define their season.

“The team’s psychology is getting more mature,” the midfielder Jorginho said. “We went to the changing room [at half-time] and we spoke. We said what we needed to say and we didn’t drop the energy of the team. It has been a few games now that I feel like our team is getting more mature. Not just with scoring goals but the way we play – understanding the game, when to play short, when to go long, these kind of situations.”

Jorginho was asked whether Arsenal had a maturity that they perhaps lacked last season, when their title push came off the rails after the early part of April. “It could be,” he replied. “The team playing another year together, you learn a lot.”

Related: ‘We are there, that’s for sure’: Mikel Arteta says Arsenal are back in title race

It has been a while since the Emirates rocked as it did on Sunday, Arteta calling it the “best atmosphere” of the season. Maybe it was the knowledge that a loss would have pushed Arsenal eight points below Liverpool after 23 matches. As it is, they are two behind.

“It could have been eight points and it would look a lot more difficult then,” Ødegaard said. “But we showed up and the fans were unbelievable. We did this together and you can see how together we all are. The supporters are crucial in terms of getting momentum in the games. When you have the fans behind you … we get so much energy from it.”

Ødegaard made the point that Arsenal had come back strongly last season after missing out on Champions League qualification in 2021-22. Now they need to take another step forward after the disappointing finish to the previous campaign.

“We have to show that we’ve learned something,” Ødegaard said. “We have to talk on the pitch and show it towards the end of the season – just keep doing our thing and then we’ll see.”