Could Martin Odegaard be benched by Arsenal? Gunners captain reacts to seeing Aaron Ramsdale dropped by Mikel Arteta against Everton

Captain Martin Odegaard claims that he even he could be dropped at Arsenal, with Aaron Ramsdale’s surprise benching against Everton proving as much.

Mikel Arteta opted to freshen up his side between the sticks at Goodison Park when naming summer signing David Raya as his starting goalkeeper. England international Ramsdale, who has been a mainstay for the Gunners since breaking into their team, had to settle for a place among the substitutes.

Arteta is hoping to show that nobody is untouchable, and that rotation is a good thing, with club captain Odegaard – who continues to be a shining light for the north London outfit – telling football.london when asked if even his place could be under threat: Of course, the competition is huge. You see it in training every day, the quality that we have. Everyone has to be on their very best every day in training, so I think that’s a good thing. It will help us improve as a team as well.

Odegaard added on Ramsdale’s reaction to being benched against the Toffees, with Raya keeping a clean sheet in a hard-fought 1-0 win: I think he will just keep working hard like he is always doing. Today he was there supporting us, cheering for us, helping us. He is a great character and he showed a very good response today by backing the team, by being there and giving us energy. It was excellent from him. We have two good goalkeepers there and big competition.

Ramsdale will be hoping for a recall when Arsenal make their long-awaited return to Champions League competition on Wednesday with a home date against Dutch giants PSV.