After the final whistle at the Emirates, Arsenal suffered a 0-1 defeat to West Ham in a one-man deficit situation due to a red card to Myles Lewis-Skelly. This defeat left The Gunners 11 points behind Liverpool in the rankings despite playing 1 match less. Arsenal still have a chance to win the championship, but it is so small that many of their fans no longer have hope.
After the match, the television camera focused on Martin Odegaard. The Norwegian captain was heartbroken that he and his teammates had lost in an unimaginable way.
"Our performance today was very disappointing. Arsenal had to play with one less player and had to adjust the number of personnel still on the field. The team could have played better that way" - Odegaard shared.
In November 2024, Martin Odegaard returned to the Gunners squad after 6 weeks of injury. The 26-year-old midfielder caught the pace so quickly that captain Mikel Arteta was also surprised. Since Odegaard returned to the squad on November 10 and before Bukayo Saka was injured on December 21, Arsenal have had a very good scoring efficiency. They have scored 28 goals in all competitions in 10 matches. Odegaard alone has scored 1 goal and 3 assists in the first 4 matches since his return.
Therefore, having to maintain continuous high performance has unintentionally become a pressure for the Norwegian midfielder himself. In the next 12 matches, the Arsenal captain only had 1 goal and 1 assist. Looking at the Premier League since the beginning of the season, Odegaard has played 18 matches but only scored 2 goals and 3 assists. For his part, captain Mikel Arteta denied that his student's decline in form was due to the team's tactical changes.
"The stats he has are exactly what the coaching staff and I want. Maybe performance has declined a bit but we cannot take away Odegaard's importance in the squad and play" - Arteta shared.
With the attacking midfield position, it is not too strict for Odegaard to be given the responsibility of scoring. However, current performance is too low. The 2022-2023 campaign has been the Norwegian midfielder's best so far. He has scored 15 goals in 45 matches in all competitions.
One of the reasons for Arsenal's confusion is the injuries of Bukayo Saka and Ben White. With these two factors on the field, Arsenal's right wing is very strong. Odegaard was used as a link in Saka and White's contributions. The Norwegian midfielder himself said that he and Saka are very compatible, and can create many breakthroughs. However, these 3 stars have only played 4 matches together due to injury.
Ethan Nwaneri was once expected to gradually replace Martin Odegaard's role, but Bukayo Saka's injury forced Arsenal's 17-year-old talent to play on the right wing, holding on to the position Saka left behind. Since then, Odegaard has been left unused and he has become a weakness of the team if he is surrounded by the opponent.
Odegaard's importance to Arsenal is shown through the team's achievements with and without him on the pitch. Without the Norwegian midfielder, Arsenal have dropped points in four of their seven games. Since his return against Chelsea, the Gunners have gone 15 unbeaten matches. It was also Arteta's longest unbeaten run since taking over at Arsenal. Even in the recent loss to West Ham, Odegaard was still the one who created the most dangerous open play for Arsenal 4.
This was the most stressful and overwhelming time of Martin Odegaard's life. He has struggled with injuries and has to practice recovery actively. Meanwhile, he has just got married. As for the professional issue, this is the most severe period for the "Gunners" in terms of performance pressure. Therefore, Odegaard's time is very limited, which could put him in crisis.
Odegaard and Arsenal are running on two parallel roads. After many years of progress, they have reached a stage of stagnation, possibly even taking a step back. However, this is a player with intelligence, talent and the desire to overcome all negative problems.
In the coming weeks, Odegaard's close partners such as Martinelli and Saka will return. By then, if Arsenal have no more stumbles, they still have a chance to compete with Liverpool even though they are already fragile.
