- Roy Keane and Paul Merson criticized one of the Tottenham players
- They said Martin Odegaard will ‘absolutely destroy’ Spurs star
- ‘He’s reaching De Bruyne levels!’ Arsenal maestro Martin Odegaard HAS to be in the running for the Player of the Year award. Listen It’s all starting! Podcast
Roy Keane and Paul Merson slammed one of Tottenham’s players before claiming Martin Odegaard will “completely destroy him” in the north London derby.
Mikel Arteta’s team are looking to return to the top of the Premier League with a victory over their rivals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs, on the other hand, are looking to close the gap on Aston Villa as they currently sit seven points behind fourth place in the league.
Ange Postecoglou made some surprising changes to his team by choosing to bench Richarlison for the visit of Arteta’s men.
Speaking on Sky Sports before the match, Keane and Merson criticized another Spurs player as he made a brutal prediction.
Ange Postecoglou’s team selection questioned ahead of North London derby
It was claimed that Martin Odegaard will ‘absolutely destroy’ one of the Spurs players
Roy Keane and Paul Merson harshly criticized the Spurs player before kick-off
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When asked why Postecoglou selected Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for the London derby, former Spurs defender Michael Dawson backed the midfielder.
He said: “I think (he’s playing) to try and stop Odegaard.” I see where they were two weeks ago, they were Bissouma and Bentancur. I’m surprised Pape Sarr didn’t attack the legs.
‘Arsenal is going to have a lot of ball and Sarr moves a lot. But as Ange said, Pierre’s experience is controlling Odegaard, because for me he is huge in this game. He creates, he dictates, we have to try to stop him.’
However, former Arsenal star Merson criticized the decision and claimed Odegaard will be licking his lips when he faces the Dane.
“The boy who plays now (Odegaard would prefer to show his face),” he said. ‘Bissouma is a faster player. Hojbjerg, you turn away from him and walk away. Bissouma and Sarr are faster.
“This boy will want to play; the problem is that he believes he is a player.” When they have the ball, he’ll start to want to play it, but his natural reaction should be, “I’m on this team to stop him from playing, so I’m just going to hook him.”
Keane doubled down on Merson’s comments, saying: “Despite all his experience, I don’t think Hojbjerg really shows it.” He cuts himself quite a bit.
‘His job is to do a job for the back four. They have to protect their four defenders. For a defensive-minded midfielder, he gets trapped. His job is to get people, help his full-backs, because if the attackers don’t come back and do a job for them, it’s going to be a long afternoon for them.”
