England manager Sarina Wiegman hailed a “very important” three points after the Lionesses opened their Nations League account with a 2-1 win against Scotland. Just over a month since their World Cup final loss to Spain, the Lionesses picked up an inaugural win in the competition. Former Black Cat Lucy Bronze opened the scoring at the Stadium of Light before Lauren Hemp doubled the lead and Kirsty Hanson pulled one back – all in the six minutes before the break. The visitors had opportunities to level in the second half, with Hanson and Christy Grimshaw having the pick of the chances, but were unable to capitalise and Wiegman was pleased her side were able to take the win – which left them alongside Belgium at the top of Group A1 after the latter’s surprise win over the Netherlands. “First of all I’m very happy with the three points, three very important points,” she told a press conference. “You see how competitive the Nations League is with the other results we’ve seen. “I think the first half we’ve played a lot better than the second half and scored two good goals. “We also gave away a couple of counter-attacks where Scotland showed they were really dangerous in those moments – I think those were our own mistakes that gave them that opportunity – but I think overall we were a lot better the first half and second half we were struggling. “Overall we kept the win and that’s the most important thing off the back of the World Cup and a very short turnaround where players haven’t played any competitive games yet.” The Nations League is a new competition for this year and there is a chance for England to secure Paris 2024 Olympics qualification on behalf of Great Britain via the tournament. England next face the Netherlands in Utrecht and Wiegman is pleased to see “more competitive games” being played. “If you look at other groups there’ve been really tight too, some remarkable results, that’s what we want,” she added. “We wanted more competitive games, we want to develop the game and get top countries to improve, but countries just underneath the top to also get closer. “We’ve seen in the World Cup that everything comes closer and closer, which is very exciting for the game, but it’s really good to have these competitive games that you don’t know ahead who’s going to win the game and who’s going to top the group.” Scotland manager Pedro Martinez Losa was “disappointed” with the result. He said: “We are disappointed because we came here to win and that’s the ambition we have as a team. We wanted to come here to compete and play the football we wanted to play. “I think Scotland was brilliant in many other moments, this is the performances that this team can put together and we want to do it again in the next matches. “We are not still happy, we will never be happy losing games but we want the ambition to win games. “We had the feeling we could get something else in the game but now the only thing we can do is to take the positives, continue building to make sure we can recover and go again on Tuesday (against Belgium).”

England got their Nations League campaign off to a winning start with a 2-1 win against Scotland at the Stadium of Light. Just over a month after their World Cup final defeat to Spain, the Lionesses earned an inaugural win in the competition after going ahead through former Black Cat Lucy Bronze. Lauren Hemp doubled the lead before Scotland pulled one back just before the break through Kirsty Hanson and the visitors had plenty of good opportunities to level in the second half but were unable to capitalise on their chances. Prior to kick-off both teams paid their respects to Sheffield United’s Maddy Cusack, who has died aged 27, and a period of silence was observed around the stadium. England were on the front foot straight from kick-off and Georgia Stanway had the first real attempt of the game 10 minutes in when her header went just wide. Lauren James then launched into an excellent mazy run across the Scottish half and threaded the ball to Rachel Daly, whose low effort was comfortably saved by Lee Gibson. The Lionesses kept possession well but struggled to find the breakthrough as Stanway tried one of her trademark long-distance efforts from outside the box with Gibson saving. However, the visitors took their chances where they could as Caroline Weir had a powerful effort from inside the box well saved by Mary Earps. England thought they had broken the deadlock in the 25th minute through Daly’s flicked header from a corner, but the celebrations were quickly cut short when the goal was ruled out for offside against Chloe Kelly in the build-up. Pouncing on a missed opportunity, Scotland were suddenly on the attack as Hanson made a great run down the left flank but Martha Thomas was unable to stab the ball home, before the Tottenham striker’s curling effort was held by Earps. Former Sunderland defender Bronze opened the scoring for the Lionesses after a great cross from Katie Zelem picked out the right-back, who made a perfectly timed run to head home. They doubled the lead in the 45th minute after Daly picked out Hemp on the left for the Manchester City winger to head into the top corner. Scotland pulled one back with the last kick of the half as England failed to clear their lines in the box and Hanson was able to poke a low cross into the bottom corner. A closely contested start to the second half saw James’ curling effort whistle over the top corner before Kelly hit a brilliant low cross into the box for Daly, who was unable to get her feet sorted in time. Scotland threatened again as Earps was equal to Thomas’ header and the visitors looked the brighter of the two teams, but England were able to shut down the threat quickly. Scotland had another great chance to level as Earps made a fantastic punch to clear Rachel McLauchlan’s attempted cross and Hanson smashed the rebound off the crossbar. The visitors threatened again with six minutes to go as Lisa Evans picked out Christy Grimshaw on the edge of the box but her low effort was held by Earps. James broke forward in added to head home after Gibson’s initial save, but the goal was ruled out for offside and Fiona Brown had the final effort of the game saved by Earps. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Sarina Wiegman happy with ‘three very important points’ against Scotland Matt Peet savours ‘fantastic honour’ as Wigan win League Leaders Shield Ange Postecoglou points out the differences between himself and Mikel Arteta

Herein lies the formula for a high-performing England team. Release the shackles, dole out the confidence, then sit back and marvel at the beast of the Lionesses without limits. There were no concerns about keeping tournament hopes alive; no headaches over managing minutes; no tactical frameworks to devise on the fly; just a chance for the Lionesses to show what they can do best. And that is exactly what England accomplished. Scotland were far from pushovers but were thoroughly outclassed on Friday night. With an enthusiastic Sunderland crowd providing the backing and an evidently more polished shape on their side, England exuded confidence. Raw, unadulterated confidence. From the off it was as if that was all that mattered. Georgia Stanway sized-up Scotland goalkeeper Lee Gibson whenever the ball dropped towards her feet outside the area, Chloe Kelly went on her customary weaving runs, Lauren James – with her usual precision and air of nonchalance, was finally free to toy with opponents once again. Even Lucy Bronze, usually a straight edge, was inspired to try and backheel it through the visitors’ defence. The danger of working at the disposal of a master conductor like Sarina Wiegman had always been that glimpses of individual brilliance were better left repressed than taking risks which may have been to the detriment of the team. Just follow the plan and have faith that results will ensue. Here’s a summary of how that has worked so far: England became a relentless machine, they won the Euros, opponents cottoned on, things turned stale, their winning record ended, an unexpected injuries forced Wiegman to return to the drawing board. The abandoning of such orthodoxy and the move towards a new formation may well be the key to this team’s future. Against Scotland they provided further evidence that the current set-up might just set them on a course for future success. Rachel Daly finally converted an England set-piece after a summer of somewhat underwhelming corners, though she was denied the opener with Kelly standing offside, apparently interfering with Gibson’s sight of the ball. So it fell to Bronze to put England ahead; the fact it was a former Sunderland player coming to the rescue being much to the delight of the home supporters. Katie Zelem dinked the ball over the heads of the Scottish back line and Bronze timed her diving header to perfection, contorting herself low and connecting just on time to direct the ball past Gibson. Then, just six minutes later, it was the turn of her former Manchester City teammate Lauren Hemp to do something rather similar. This time it was Daly who drilled in the cross and Hemp likewise adopted a dive to nod home. Though as much as England’s exuberance had been a delight for fans, at times evoking a sense that the Nou Camp had been plonked on the banks of the River Wear, there were sporadic reminders that this team remains fallible. Real Madrid’s Caroline Weir picked up the ball inside the England box and should have netted for her side were it not for the quick reactions of Mary Earps. Kirsty Hanson carved out openings on the left-hand flank and Weir should likely have had a penalty after Millie Bright brought her down. It came as little surprise, therefore, that Hanson was able to pull one back when she tucked home a loose ball on the stroke of half-time, though after the break the hosts managed to hold back Scotland’s persistence. Zelem, the provider of Bronze’s opener, was a particular standout while filling in for the absent Keira Walsh, who has missed out on a spot in this camp through injury. She hassled tirelessly in the middle of the park and tried to orchestrate chances going forwards, zipping the ball around, and looked a welcome addition. It was somewhat cruel when Zelem, who shone when deputising for Walsh during the latter’s period of absence at the World Cup, was quickly shunted back to the bench after her quick recovery, and her performance against Scotland will have staked a further claim that she is deserving of a spot in this team. The performance of James, starting for the first time since her now-infamous red card in the quarter-finals, was also encouraging and showed that she has now surely cemented her position in the England teams of the future. That she had a late goal ruled out for offside is of little importance. This international break is peculiar for the fact it comes before the domestic campaign begins, and takes place just over a month after the World Cup’s conclusion, but two strong performances will be crucial. If Team GB are to secure qualification for next summer’s Olympics England must win their Nations League group and then progress to their final. Victory over Scotland – and further evidence of a way in which this team can delight audiences and play their top-class football going forwards – helps to set things on a positive course. Now their attention quickly turns to Tuesday’s game against the Netherlands, where they will need to be at their best once again.

Erik ten Hag admits he is at a loss to explain Manchester United’s poor defensive performances. The Red Devils have conceded 14 goals in their last five games and 10 in the last three, with three goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday not enough even to earn them a point. United boss Ten Hag said: “We have shown that we can do it because last year we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League because of the team, because we defended very good as a team, so we have to get back to that standard. “Of course I am pushing the team and demanding from the team, and from the start of the season, but they are human beings, not robots, so, why they are not doing it, I try to find out and I try to give the solutions and try to motivate the players to do the job. “When you are in a period like we are in always as a manager you are asking yourself these questions. My job is to get them to do the job.” On United’s tendency to concede goals soon after a restart, Ten Hag added: “(We’re) not concerned but we are aware of it. Of course you can’t close your eyes for things like this so we coach the players, we coach the team in that fact.” Question marks have been raised about the attitude of United’s squad, with clips from the Bayern game apparently showing players not chasing back as hard as they might. Ten Hag does not believe a lack of willingness was to blame, though, saying: “It’s always a concern when we didn’t run but I think against Bayern it was not the case. “In certain situations yes so it’s also to recognise in which situation is it about they didn’t recognise it and didn’t make the right decisions or is it about willingness? “Against Spurs, we didn’t run too much. But I think against Bayern we did our best from physical outputs but we didn’t always run in the right moment. “If we bounced back like we did in Munich, you can’t say the spirit isn’t right. I think we have other problems than that.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Pep Guardiola has laughed off suggestions he should be concerned about the number of chances Erling Haaland has missed this season. The Manchester City manager claims anyone who says the prolific Norwegian has become wasteful will be proved wrong – and forced to apologise – soon enough. Haaland scored 52 goals in an extraordinary debut campaign at City last season and, on the face of it, has started this one strongly too with seven in eight appearances. Don’t criticise Erling too much. You will be in a position where you have to apologise to him Pep Guardiola Yet analysis shows he has missed 12 ‘big chances’ this term, nine of them being in his last two outings against West Ham and Red Star Belgrade. After eight games last season he had scored 12 goals, with eight ‘big chances’ missed. “I will not sleep tonight!” Guardiola joked when these numbers were put to him at a press conference to preview the champions Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday. “He has had incredible chances and he could have scored 14-15 goals now. What is important is he always says, ‘I have the chance, I have the chance, I have the chance. The problem is when I do not have chances, or I do not get balls or I am in the wrong position’. “My advice is don’t criticise Erling too much. Criticise the full-back, the central defender or the manager, but never, never the striker who scored all those goals because he will and then you will be in a position where you have to apologise to him.” Guardiola concedes Haaland was not fully fit at the start of the season, but that is not unexpected after last year’s exertions. He said: “No (he was not fully fit) – it is quite simple – but in the pre-season I cannot expect him to be fully fit. “Normally the new players come and are fully fit earlier. When you don’t start the last season, you are fitter earlier. “When you win the treble maybe you think, ‘I wait a week longer to be completely fit’. It is a question of time. “Erling is much better than in the first week. Every week he is better and everything is there. “He is an incredible threat. He has had a lot of chances and that means we are playing good. Always I have the sense that the team are doing quite good by the number of chances Erling has.”

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is full of admiration for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, but fails to see many similarities between the pair. Postecoglou’s youthful Spurs side face the biggest test of his early reign on Sunday when they make the short trip to the Emirates for the first north London derby of the season. Second-placed Tottenham travel across the capital in high spirits but face an Arsenal team that are into a fifth season under Arteta, who also took over a club in the doldrums and has overseen a cultural change from top to bottom. While Postecoglou is at the start of the same type of rebuilding job at Spurs, he poked fun at suggestions he is alike his 41-year-old opposite number. He said: “I think Mikel has been outstanding, really strong right from the start by having a real vision for the football club and the club’s backed him, but I don’t think that’s unique. “I think Liverpool did the same with Jurgen (Klopp). Most clubs that end up having a successful period do it on the back of having a really clear idea of what they’re trying to create. “The only problem is that a lot of clubs jump at shadows at the first sign of things not progressing at the rate they were hoping to. Credit to Arsenal and credit to Mikel that they backed each other and they’re reaping the rewards of it but that’s not a blueprint for us to follow. “We’ve got our own blueprint. You don’t have to follow anyone else’s timescale, you don’t have to follow anyone else’s processes. What you’ve got to do is have a clear idea about what you want and provided along the way you see progress, stick to it. There’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us Ange Postecoglou “In terms of similarities, I’m 58, he’s whatever (41). I’ve had 26 years, he’s five years into it. He’s managed in one country, I’ve managed in a few. I’m not sure how he’s got a great head of hair! “He’s a lot fitter than I am. I don’t know, there’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us. I wouldn’t say we’re opposites. “We’re different. Even in the way his team plays. Yes he does have a very attacking philosophy but it’s different from mine and that’s the beauty of the game. That’s what you love about it. “It’s why you can’t copy. If you’re an artist and you see a Picasso, yeah you can copy it, but it’s not going to be a Picasso is it? It’s the same with football. “You can see that somebody does something really well, but don’t bring your own personality into it. I have great admiration for the way he’s gone about things and how he’s stuck to his beliefs. It’s a credit to him.” Postecoglou did not claim to have any type of personal relationship with Arteta, but he did reveal a time when he got to view the Spaniard up close. The former Celtic boss watched Manchester City training not long after he was appointed manager at Yokohama, who are part-owned by the City Football Group. “I spent a week at City when I first got the Yokohama job because they were part of the group and were generous enough to invite me in,” he revealed. “I didn’t speak to anyone but I observed training and you could see then how passionate Mikel was about the game and that he was itching to get going and become a manager himself. “He’s had a different journey but he’s made the impact. “As I keep saying, there’s no real defined way to get here.”

Virgil van Dijk believes striker Darwin Nunez is starting to realise the potential which persuaded Liverpool to spend a possible club-record transfer fee on him. The Uruguay international endured a testing start to life at Anfield and although he scored 16 goals, the feeling remained he had underperformed. He has already played a significant part this season, scoring two late goals as a substitute to beat Newcastle, and with Mohamed Salah on the bench he took responsibility for equalising through a penalty in their eventual 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria. Nunez has three goals and two assists this season but his all-round influence has been felt more than just from that contribution. The Uruguayan, who had missed a couple of earlier chances but was denied a certain goal by a brilliant point-blank save by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal in the first half, also played a role in the second goal with his hold-up play on the halfway line. Liverpool’s captain believes the 24-year-old is developing into the striker they hoped they were getting when they paid Benfica an initial £64million, which could rise to £85m, last summer. “Everyone has a role to play whether you start or not. Everyone has now seen the potential and the quality he has. “Against LASK Darwin was important with the goal. Long may it continue, and with the other boys as well. “Up front, the competition is quite good. They all have to push each other and it’s good to see.” One of those “other boys” – quite literally – was Ben Doak who became Liverpool’s fourth-youngest European player with his first start at the age of 17 years and 314 days. The young Scot was given a run in Salah’s right-wing position and showed flashes of his talent despite being starved of opportunities in a poor first-half performance by the team. “It was a big night for him,” added Van Dijk. “It was never going to be easy, it was a difficult pitch, but he could have set up at least two goals in the first half where he went past his man like no one was there but unfortunately nobody was on the end of it. “I am pleased for him and I’m also very excited for him and the future that’s coming. “You’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, if you watch closely it’s a fantastic group to be part of. “We have a lot of quality, a lot of younger players, players who are getting new roles and they are enjoying that as well. “But at the end of the day football is about results. Everybody wants to play their best football each and every game, but sometimes you have to find a way, like we did at Wolves (coming back from conceding first again to win 3-1). “On Thursday it was after we conceded a set-piece, we showed that we stayed calm and found a way as well.”

England Women host Scotland Women on Friday night, under the lights in the north east of England - Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is the location for both teams’ first game since the summer. They had contrasting ones, too; while the Lionesses went to New Zealand and Australia to contest the Women’s World Cup, where they went right the way through to the final before losing to Spain, Scotland were sat at home watching, following on from July friendly wins over Northern Ireland and Finland. The Women’s Nations League offers a fresh start for both, with this the first-ever edition of the competition in the women’s game. Group A1 contains England, Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland. Follow all the latest updates from England vs Scotland below and get the latest odds and football tips here:

Kick It Out chief Tony Burnett says the government’s new online safety bill is “brilliant news” but only “a small piece of the jigsaw”. The new legislation, which could help prevent discrimination and abuse on social media platforms, passed its final parliamentary debate on Friday. The football authorities played a significant part in the development of the bill, and a joint statement from The FA, Premier League, EFL, PFA and Kick It Out shortly after the announcement described the legislation as “a significant moment for those who participate in the game”. Only last weekend, Sheffield United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham was subject to online racist abuse after a match against Tottenham Hotspur, which was swiftly condemned by both clubs. While the new bill provides a vehicle to hold social media platforms to account through regulator Ofcom, Kick It Out chief Tony Burnett warns this should not be seen as the end of the issue. “It’s brilliant news,” the CEO of the equality and inclusion charity told the Independent. “We’ve been campaigning for over two years on football governing bodies to try and influence not just the legislation, but also the content of it. So it’s a really positive move. “This is the first step, and now we’ve got to move really quickly from celebrating what’s been achieved to making sure that the way that Ofcom structures the regulation of social media organisations is fit for purpose and they are effective in holding them to account. “We’ve all seen lots of examples where regulators are not as effective as they should be.” Kick It Out recorded a 65.1 per cent rise in reports of discriminatory behaviour in 2022/23, with the 1,007 reports received including a 279 per cent increase in online abuse. Burnett believes while the numbers represent the fact fans are becoming less tolerant of discriminatory behaviour and more likely to report it, the current climate is still seeing a worsening of the state of affairs. “Discriminatory behaviour is absolutely rising – we also saw a double-digit increase in hate-related incidents. It’s absolutely on the rise. “Rather than stoking culture wars, we should be trying to stoke inclusion. But I just don’t think we’ve got the maturity as a society to think that way at the moment.” “What this legislation doesn’t change unfortunately, is the fact there is a significant increase in people pressing the keys. So we still have a massive job to do as a society and culture to try and work out how we got to a position where people with toxic views now have a voice and feel more comfortable than ever to share this in broader society.” Although Kick It Out record their own set of statistics, neither the 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League, nor the governing bodies are obligated to share their own data on how many discriminatory incidents take place every year. Burnett says this makes it difficult to get a full understanding of the extent of the issue, and take subsequent steps to try and deal with it. “We still can’t get a picture right across the sport as to how many discrimination cases are raised every year to develop a comprehensive understanding of the state of play across football. That’s just madness. “We’re not really interested in making people look bad. We’re interested in the facts. We can’t address the challenge until we really understand the facts. If clubs are open and honest with us and say we’ve got a problem, we can help them to solve it. “The football industry, over the last three years, has done more than ever to try and tackle some of these issues, but our worry is that we’re doing the safe stuff. We’re sending people on training courses, and we’re running campaigns, which have got a place, but we’re not doing the hard stuff. “The online safety bill is brilliant, because it gives us a start to hold social media organisations to account – but that’s only a small part of the jigsaw.” Read More Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: Too soon to herald return of my mentality monsters First ever Lioness captain’s legacy lives on as England face Scotland Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: Too soon to herald return of my mentality monsters First ever Lioness captain’s legacy lives on as England face Scotland Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists it is too soon to say his “mentality monsters” have returned but he has been impressed by how they have handled adversity so far this season. The 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria was the fourth time in six matches this season the team have bounced back from going behind. However, despite the early setbacks they have yet to concede a goal after the 37th minute and strong second-half performances have seen them turn things around against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Wolves and now the team from Linz. That has been achieved against the backdrop of introducing an all-new midfield but he is not yet ready to repurpose the tag he bestowed on the side who won the Champions League and Premier League in back-to-back seasons. “I understand why you are asking me this. It was not long ago I was being asked about us being 1-0 down, 1-0 down, 1-0 down,” he said. “I understand that this may come up again some time, but this feels completely different. “When I said that phrase (mentality monsters) at that time, it was not that I planned that way. I just remember watching a game and thinking, ‘oh my God, how did they come back?’.” “Now it is just that we have changed a few things and turned games around. Staying in a game is a duty and we did that so far which is why we have turned situations. “Mentality? That is something we will create. What we have now is a mood. This is a spirit we have created because the boys really like playing with each other. “It is a close group. It is early, that is obvious, and we made 11 changes (against LASK) and when you saw the spirit of the boys at the start it was not like we are on holiday. “If you saw the dressing room there was a real competitive mood there. I liked that a lot. Again, the boys who came on enjoyed the minutes they got. “Something is growing but I have no clue how it will go.” The fact Klopp was able to change the entire team from Saturday’s win at Wolves and still win fairly comfortably is an indication of not only the depth but also the quality he has at his disposal. It was far from a weakened European team, however, with first-choice centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate at the back and almost £100million-worth of attacking talent in Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz up front. But the major difference was being able to bring summer signings, and two of his new revamped midfield, Dominik Szobozslai and World Cup-winner Alexis Mac Allister plus Mohamed Salah off the bench for the last half hour to see out the game and avoid any late drama. It means those key players will be fresh for Sunday’s visit of West Ham as they look to make it five successive Premier League wins. “I made 11 changes. I don’t know what you thought, but maybe some thought it was too much,” added Klopp. “Everyone deserved to play for what they have shown in pre-season and training. I wanted a team that did not think for one second about Sunday who would go into it and enjoy it. “Will I do this in every (European) game? Probably not. But we can mix it in a different way. “For a squad still without Thiago (Alcantara), no Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and no Conor Bradley we can still change 11 times. “If we have luck – and by luck I mean everyone stays healthy – and we have 23 players like this at this level we can react in all the games we have and we’ll always have a really good team on the pitch. I like that a lot.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Namibia captain apologises to Antoine Dupont as clash causes facial fracture Warren Gatland expects ‘one hell of a game’ as Wales tackle wounded Australia Ange Postecoglou: Performance against Arsenal more important to me than result

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has signed a new five-year contract with the club. The influential Norwegian midfielder, who was Arsenal’s player of the season last campaign, has committed his future until 2028. The 24-year-old initially joined on loan from Real Madrid in 2021 and said he has found his “home” at the Gunners. Odegaard becomes the latest young Arsenal star to sign a new deal with the club, following Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba. “Signing a new contract was a really easy decision for me for lots of reasons,” Odegaard said. “Mainly what we are doing right now as a club is special, and I want to be a part of that. I’m really excited for what’s to come here. I’ve found a place where I can be really settled and call my home. "My story is a bit different maybe, as I moved around different clubs since I was 16. At Arsenal, since the first day, I’ve felt great and this is definitely my home now. “I just want to say thanks to everyone working at the club and of course, our fantastic supporters. I will continue to give everything to bring success to this club in the years to come.” Odegaard scored 15 Premier League goals last season as Arsenal finished second to Manchester City, and the Norway captain says he is determined to help Mikel Arteta’s side take the next step. He scored the fourth goal of Arsenal’s 4-0 win over PSV on Wednesday as the Gunners marked their return to the Champions League with a commanding victory at the Emirates, six years after their last appearance in the competition. “It just shows what we’re doing as a club. People want to be here as part of the project. “What we’re doing is really special and the players see what the manager wants to do and how the club is progressing, the connection we now have with the fans. “I think it’s a no-brainer for the players to be part of that. With so many hungry young players, it’s a great place to be. “Of course, it’s a good thing. You see the players around you want to be a part of what we’re doing and it shows just how connected we are as a team. “All the players want the same thing, they want to stay for a long time and really fight for the club and win things together. It shows the family feeling we have.” Read More Arsenal are back in the Champions League — and they look like contenders too Jack is back – Pep Guardiola provides positive update on Man City star Grealish North London derby the headline act this weekend – Premier League talking points Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praises Ange Postecoglou ahead of Tottenham’s visit