Gabriel Jesus was the hat-trick hero for Arsenal against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night and it came after a simple message to Martin Odegaard.
The Brazilian has had a frustrating season so far, yet to score in the Premier League, but he was in the starting XI for the Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with the Eagles.
Things were not going well for the Gunners after falling behind early on and going into half-time 1-0 behind to a Jean-Philippe Mateta goal.
Odegaard was introduced at the break, though, and helped turn the tide, providing two assists for Jesus on the way to a 3-2 victory
The former Manchester City forward told the Norwegian exactly what to do when he arrived on the pitch and it worked perfectly.
‘Obviously the first half wasn’t our best, but still in the second half we did our job, we created more, we kept the ball more, circulated the ball, made passes and then Martin put in two amazing balls in the end and B [Bukayo Saka] as well, and I could finish the action,’ said Jesus, also praising Saka who got the other assist.
‘The quality that Martin has is amazing. He’s a type of a player that can pass these balls and put you in front of the goal.
‘That’s what I was telling him; I said “Martin I know your qualities, so I’ll go in behind. If it’s open, I go, you don’t need to look, I will be there.” He played amazing balls and I was able to finish the action.
‘B as well, but I think everyone today tried their best, it’s not easy when you change a lot, normally we don’t play together a lot in the games, and that’s a little bit tricky. At the end we did our job and won the game.’