Martin Odegaard Shines in Community Shield Victory for Arsenal

Martin Odegaard did not so much score Arsenal’s third as bring the whole occasion to a halt.

He drifted into space, froze Gianluigi Donnarumma with a drop of the shoulder, then rolled the ball home to cap a 3-0 dismantling of Manchester City in the Community Shield. Two minutes into the second half, the contest was done. Odegaard, once again, was the captain with a trophy in his hands.

Yes, it is “only” the Community Shield. And yes, no team have paraded that plate in August and gone on to win the Premier League since 2018/19. But this felt like something more useful for Arsenal than a superstition-busting exercise.

It looked like the night their attack found its old conductor again.

A champion with a point to prove

Odegaard is already etched into Arsenal history. He is the captain who finally lifted the Premier League trophy in May, ending 22 years of waiting and angst.

Yet his own season never quite matched the scale of the team’s achievement. Knee and shoulder problems stalked him. He started only 16 league games. Across 36 appearances in all competitions, he scored just once. For a player who had previously turned midfield control into a goalscoring art form, it was a jarring return.

The debate grew louder as the months dragged by. Eberechi Eze’s name was floated as a more dynamic option. Some argued Declan Rice should take the armband. The captaincy, the role, even his place in the XI — nothing felt entirely safe.

Mikel Arteta knew the story behind the numbers.

“He missed five or six months for different things and it was extremely difficult for him to get any momentum,” the Arsenal manager said after Sunday’s win. “I'm sure this year if we can maintain him fit, available with the players around him, we're going to see a very different Martin.”

The Community Shield hinted at exactly that.

Arsenal’s transfer wait – and the internal solution

Arsenal still want a marquee forward before the window shuts. They have chased an elite left winger for several seasons, missed out on Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Jr, and watched the pool of realistic, top-tier options shrink as the summer has gone on. The “statement signing” that once felt inevitable now looks far less obvious.

So the most powerful upgrade available to Arteta may not come from the market at all.

It may be Odegaard, fully fit and ruthless again.

The need is mutual. Arsenal require their creative heartbeat to be relentless. Odegaard, now into the final two years of his contract, knows this is the stretch that will shape what is likely to be the last huge deal of his career.

“Missing so many games was really frustrating, but I’ve used it as motivation to come back stronger,” the captain said. The sense of unfinished business is clear.

A different Odegaard

Against City, it was not just the finish that caught the eye. It was the authority.

Odegaard’s clipped cross led to Arsenal’s second goal. He kept showing for the ball, kept knitting attacks together, and kept driving his team higher up the pitch. Last season he often looked a yard short, slightly tentative in duels, understandable after repeated setbacks. On Sunday he snapped into challenges and stayed there.

He won five of his seven duels. Nobody on the pitch made more recoveries. The number 8 shirt was everywhere.

The Norwegian has carried this form over from his international exploits. At the World Cup, only Michael Olise registered more assists. After that came three weeks off with his wife and young son, a rare chance to let his body and mind breathe.

“It was massive for me,” Odegaard said. “Last year was really a big struggle with a lot of difficult moments. That's the worst thing for a footballer, to not be on the pitch. I had quite a lot of weird injuries and bad luck.

“It was good to end it with the title here and then a good World Cup. Then I had my break. Now I feel good.

“After last season, to miss so many games is really frustrating. What I've done is use that as motivation for this year and come back stronger.”

Arteta felt the shift the moment his captain walked back through the door.

“I sense from the first day that he joined that he has something else in the belly that he wants to prove and show because the team needs it as well,” he said.

New tools around the playmaker

The Community Shield was only Odegaard’s second outing of the summer, after a 30-minute cameo against Borussia Dortmund where he twice sliced them open with through balls. The sharpness has returned quickly.

Now he will have more help. With Bruno Guimaraes added to the squad, Arsenal gain another technician who can punch passes through the lines. That should drag opponents out of shape more often and give Odegaard the sort of pockets he thrives in.

Arsenal’s title win last season was built on a granite base. They did it without an elite No9 and with wingers who rarely sustained top form across long stretches. The back line and structure carried them over the line.

Even a modest step forward in the final third could tilt the balance again.

Bukayo Saka is expected to play freer now that his Achilles issue has eased, according to Arteta. On the opposite flank, Christos Tzolis already looks like an upgrade on the left, offering a more direct threat and cleaner end product.

Drop a fully humming Odegaard into that mix and the attack starts to look very different.

The ceiling if he catches fire

The numbers show what his best version looks like. In 2022/23 he scored 15 goals and delivered seven assists in the Premier League alone. The following season he still produced eight goals and 11 assists despite the interruptions.

Then came the ankle problem, the stop-start rhythm, the sense of a career temporarily stuck in traffic.

The Community Shield suggested that jam has finally cleared. The sharpness in tight spaces, the weight of pass, the aggression off the ball — this was the Odegaard who once dragged Arsenal’s attacking level up almost on his own.

Arsenal have already seen him lift the league trophy as captain. If this is the version they get for an entire campaign, with a deeper squad and more technical quality around him, the question is no longer whether he can lead them.

It is how far he can take them this time.