Martin Odegaard has scored four times in five games after managing just one last season, with Mikel Arteta explaining how Arsenal have changed the captain’s role.
Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal’s ability to progress the ball through more areas of the pitch has allowed Martin Odegaard to become a greater attacking threat this season.
Odegaard scored the winner as Arsenal beat Napoli 1-0 in their opening Champions League league-phase game, continuing a run which seen the Norwegian produce four goals in his last five appearances.
That already represents a major change from last season, when injuries disrupted the captain’s campaign where he scored just once across all competitions.
Arteta sees more behind the improvement than Odegaard simply finding his finishing touch again.
Arsenal can now move the ball forward without asking their captain to come as deep as often, freeing him to arrive in areas where he can hurt opponents closer to goal.
Asked whether he had actively encouraged Odegaard to move into those positions, Arteta said: "Yes, because he can. We have now a lot of players that can take the ball there and can progress the ball much better than we did in the past.
“When that happens, he needs to take different heights and angles and positions in order to disorganise the opponent. And he’s done that really well tonight.”
It was visible throughout the win in Naples.
Odegaard regularly looked to receive between Napoli’s midfield and defensive lines, while Arsenal continued trying to find similar spaces through other attacking players. Arteta felt his side created enough chances to win by a far greater margin, but it was the captain who eventually provided the decisive moment for the Gunners yet again.
His recent numbers have given Arsenal another source of goals at a time when Arteta has wanted more players arriving into dangerous areas rather than leaving the responsibility with the front line.
Odegaard had missed significant time last season, with the captain struggling to build any rhythm after returning to the side. Arteta believes being fit, alongside the different relationships that have developed around him, has helped change where the midfielder can operate.
“First of all, he needs to be available and last year he missed so many games through injuries,” Arteta said.
"He’s got that edge and he’s got now different relationships around him as well. And that helps and now he can start to occupy some different heights in the team, especially in the attacking phase.
“When we get him into those positions he’s a really dangerous player.”
There has also been a change in how Odegaard appears to approach those moments.
Arteta praised his willingness to keep looking for the decisive action against Napoli rather than becoming discouraged when earlier opportunities failed to produce a goal.
Arsenal needed that persistence in their mentality on a night when the margin remained narrow despite the volume of chances they created.
“He’s getting into those positions much more in recent games and now you feel he has this emotional state that he knows that the ball can go in,” Arteta said. “And he scored an incredible goal tonight.”
Odegaard’s return last season was an obvious outlier for a player who had previously shown he could contribute regularly in the final third.
This season, Arsenal are giving him more opportunities to do exactly that, with the captain already trebling last years goal tally in just four competitive matches for the Gunners.
