Odegaard's fine form striking fear into Arsenal's title rivals
Each member of Arsenal’s front three got on the scoresheet on Boxing Day, as goals from Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah earned Mikel Arteta’s men a 3-1 victory over West Ham. The star of the show, though, was Martin Odegaard, who ran the game for the Premier League leaders.
This has become a common theme. While the likes of Martinelli, Saka and William Saliba have regularly been showered with praise this season, Odegaard has gone a little under the radar by comparison.
Yet there is an argument that he is Arsenal’s most important player. Without the Norway international’s string-pulling, the Gunners would not be in the lofty position they find themselves in as 2023 approaches.
Odegaard’s last competitive appearance before Boxing Day was on November 12th, but there were no signs of ring rust in the 24-year-old’s performance. Odegaard provided the assist for Saka and Nketiah’s goals, and was a constant thorn in West Ham’s side, with his performance earning him a spot in the Premier League team of the week as a result.
He completed 93.4% of his 61 attempted passes while also splitting open the opposition defence with probing, incisive balls. The first such example came as early as the 10th minute, when a brilliantly disguised pass almost put Granit Xhaka through on goal.
He was just as impressive out of possession. Arsenal built up with a back three of Ben White, Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, while Kieran Tierney moved alongside Thomas Partey in midfield. The two No.8s - Odegaard and Xhaka - were thus given the license to push on and find space between the lines, an area of the game in which the Norwegian excels.
West Ham line up with two robust, physical holding midfielders In Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, but Odegaard was still able to find pockets of space in dangerous areas. He constantly peeled off Rice, who succeeded in putting out some Arsenal fires in the first half, but whose influence on the game diminished as it wore on. Deployed as the right-sided central midfielder, Odegaard frequently cut onto his strong left foot and picked out teammates ahead of him.
The Norwegian did not get on the scoresheet despite taking six shots at goal. Even so, no Arsenal player has found the net more often in the Premier League this term. Odegaard has scored six goals in total, as many as Martinelli and more than Saka, Xhaka and Gabriel Jesus.
The former Real Madrid man appears to have made a conscious effort to become more of a goal threat this term. After averaging 1.7 shots per 90 last season, Odegaard is now taking 2.8 per 90. 50% of those have come from inside the penalty area, compared to just 41% from within the 18-yard box in 2021/22.
"That’s what you want: your attacking midfielders to win games and not only assist them but score goals. He’s changed that mentality, he’s practising a lot [on scoring goals]," Arteta said of Odegaard earlier this season.
"He wants to get to his best, which we don’t know what his limit is like many of the other kids that we have. That’s what we want, embrace the good moments and support them when they’re not that good."
Odegaard’s principal quality remains his creativity. He is averaging 2.3 key passes per 90, which puts him behind only Bruno Fernandes, Andreas Pereira and Kevin De Bruyne of those players who have played at least 1000 minutes. Given that, Odegaard can count himself a little unfortunate to have provided only four assists up to now, even if that puts him behind only eight Premier League players, including his teammate Saka.
In addition, his ball carrying has also seen a notable improvement this season, perhaps hinting that he has adjusted better to the physicality of the Premier League, and that he is able to better ride challenges in 2022/23. Indeed, his dribble success rate has increased from 54.3% to 72%, that the best return in England's top tier this term of the 51 players to have attempted 25 or more dribbles.
We are still only in December, but the next few weeks will reveal plenty about Arsenal’s title prospects. The next few days bring tough clashes with Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle, before meetings with Tottenham and Manchester United later in January. None of those matches will be easy, especially as Arsenal will have to make do without Jesus for all of them.
But Monday’s come-from-behind triumph over West Ham suggested that Arteta’s side are here to stay as title contenders. And if Odegaard can maintain his recent form over the next few weeks, Arsenal’s opponents will have plenty to fear.
