Martin Odegaard: Arsenal's Captain Reclaims Form
Arsenal spent last season living on the edge of greatness. One game from a historic Premier League and Champions League double, they still got there with a captain who never truly hit his stride.
Now Martin Odegaard is back to something far more dangerous: his best.
Odegaard, rebooted
At 27, with the armband tight on his sleeve and the scars of last season still fresh, Odegaard has opened this campaign playing like a man intent on rewriting his own chapter of Arsenal’s story.
Last year, knee and shoulder problems nagged at him. He managed only 36 games in all competitions, just one goal, seven assists. In the Premier League, he featured in 24 matches as Arsenal finally ended their 24-year wait for the title, yet his personal numbers never matched the team’s glory.
He’s correcting that at speed.
There were hints in the summer. In the Community Shield win over Manchester City in Cardiff, Odegaard produced an outrageous final goal in a 3-0 victory, sitting Gianluigi Donnarumma down before rolling the ball into an empty net. It was the kind of finish that belongs to a player who knows exactly how good he is.
Then came the 3-0 win over Coventry City. Then the comeback against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium, Arsenal turning a deficit into a 2-1 win to keep their perfect league start alive. Odegaard again decided it, timing his run into the box to perfection, ghosting onto Kai Havertz’s clever dummy and thrashing an emphatic finish past Emiliano Martinez.
These were not isolated flourishes. They were the signs of a player climbing back to the summit.
Naples, and a captain’s statement
Napoli felt the full force of it.
Arsenal dominated the opening game of their Champions League campaign, peppering the Serie A side with chances. They racked up 26 shots – their highest total in a Champions League match since records began in 2003-04, and the most Napoli have ever faced in that span. Yet the ball refused to go in.
Then Odegaard took charge.
Fifteen minutes from time, he stepped inside and whipped a stunning left-foot strike beyond the keeper to seal a 1-0 win. One clean hit, one ruthless decision. Game over.
It was more than just a winner. In Naples, he set the tone without the ball as well, working tirelessly, pressing, organising, leading by example as much as by talent. This was the captain Arsenal thought they were getting – and the one Europe feared he might become.
Mikel Arteta knew exactly what he was seeing.
“This what we need,” the manager said. “Players with that mindset to decide the game, to play with that personality and keep taking risks. He is getting into those positions much more in recent games. It was an incredible goal.”
The pressure had been building all night. Odegaard was the one who finally broke the dam.
A team in his image
Arsenal’s display in Naples carried a different kind of authority. Napoli sat deep, protected by a defensive structure straight from Max Allegri’s well-thumbed playbook, happy to suffer and wait. Arsenal did not rush. They probed, recycled, waited for the gaps to appear. When they came, Odegaard was usually at the heart of it.
In every action, this looks like a side intent on building, not basking. The Premier League title has given them belief, not comfort.
Arteta has hinted that his captain is playing like someone with a point to prove, aware that while the club scaled the heights last season, his own contribution fell short of his standards. The early evidence suggests a response of the highest level.
Former Premier League defender Nedum Onuoha, speaking on Match of the Day, put it plainly: Odegaard “will want to have a bigger impact on the team this season”.
“They have got unfinished business in the Champions League,” Onuoha said. “He wants to be the first captain of Arsenal to lift that trophy.
“You would not back against them winning it based on what we've seen them do in this competition in the past two seasons, but he 100% takes Arsenal to a different level when he is on form and playing like this.
“That's the way it should be as well. I think when he is at his best, Arsenal are at their best.
“I think there have been times when he's not been at his best and as a team they can still look good and win games, but the best version of Arsenal in my opinion comes when Odegaard is pulling the strings, because so many other players will be involved in the way they attack, and the way they attack will look different at certain points.”
Right now, he is pulling everything together.
Onuoha highlighted the balance in his game: “Some of his creativity, especially on the right-hand side, has been excellent. He looks after the ball so well. He is always looking for that pass to be able to create opportunities and he even does the defensive work as well.”
The Holy Grail in sight again
Arsenal know this competition can be cruel. They lost the 2006 final to Barcelona. They fell to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties last season. Twice they have walked up to the Champions League’s door and been turned away.
It remains their Holy Grail.
The path ahead is brutal: Real Madrid coming to north London, a trip to Bayern Munich looming. These are the nights that expose any weakness, any hesitation.
Yet Arsenal go into them with a domestic champion’s swagger and a captain in devastating form. Odegaard looks smooth as silk again, and it is no coincidence Arsenal look the same.
Arteta wants his attacking players to be decisive, to turn dominance into results. “Martin is contributing with goals that are impacting results which is what we want from our attacking players, being decisive,” he said after the win in Naples. “We should have done it in a different way because of the amount of chances we created.”
They did it his way instead.
Last season, Arsenal proved they could reach the brink of European immortality even with their playmaker hampered and searching for rhythm. Now he is fully fit, ruthless, and playing as if the competition owes him something.
If this is the version of Odegaard that stays on the pitch all year, how far can Arsenal really go?
