Mikel Arteta's skipper has failed to build on the hype of last season as their 2024-25 campaign threatens to go out with a whimper.
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"It's no time to feel sorry for ourselves, we have to keep going," was the rallying cry from captain Martin Odegaard after his no-show in Arsenal's shock 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham on Saturday. "There are still many games to be played, and we have to keep going. The main thing now is to win the next one and work from there."
The Gunners failed to take advantage of Premier League leaders Liverpool's slip-up at Aston Villa in midweek. The gap to the Reds remained at eight points, extended to 11 just over 24 hours later when Arne Slot's men ran out 2-0 winners at Manchester City – a feat Mikel Arteta has never been able to match.
Back at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal failed to really lay a glove on the Hammers, organised excellently by Graham Potter for his first statement victory since taking the job last month. The injury crisis which has plagued the Gunners' campaign takes a large portion of the blame, but regardless, two shots on target from 20 and barely over one expected goal created, even if they played the last 25 minutes or so one man light, were some pretty pathetic statistics.
The Arsenal of this season have seldom been able to replicate the attacking exploits of the last two. Given Bukayo Saka, at this point perhaps underrated by the masses outside the club for the load he has to carry, hasn't been able to play since December and is unlikely to again until late March, that's not too surprising.
However, the underperformance of Odegaard – who this writer voted for the FWA Men's Football of the Year for 2023-24 – has gone under the radar as much as Saka's world-class brilliance. Were the Norwegian even half the player he was last year, Arsenal may still be within a more promising distance to Liverpool. No player in red and white in the West Ham defeat covered themselves in glory, but the skipper and main creative outlet was particularly out of sync.
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportTitle hopes over?
Liverpool's 2-2 draw at Villa on Wednesday left the door ajar for Arsenal. If they beat West Ham, Arteta's side would have moved to within five points of top spot having played the same number of games, and a trip to Anfield is still to come.
Last weekend's late 2-0 win at Leicester City, courtesy of a brace from makeshift striker Mikel Merino in what proved a tactical masterstroke, ought to have been the shot in the arm to spur on another charge for the crown. Alas, the adrenaline of that injection quickly wore off.
Merino was instilled as the centre-forward from the off after his heroics at the King Power Stadium, and to his credit he threw himself all about the frontline in the opening exchanges against the Hammers. That was as good as it got for him and Arsenal, though. Too often were his team-mates reluctant to even try and thread the needle, to deliver crosses, to take on their man.
West Ham were deserving of the win because when they did break forward, they attacked with purpose. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, another in the long line of players to leave Manchester United and find their joy again, made mincemeat of Riccardo Calafiori before he was hooked, while the two-man strike partnership of Mohammed Kudus and scorer Jarrod Bowen worked a treat. Potter's men dug in deep to limit Arsenal chances and ought to be credited for that, but on review they'll realise how easy the hosts made that job for them.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportOdegaard's passiveness prominent
This was a game begging for ingenuity and responsibility. Odegaard was not only the captain, but the best player on the pitch if everyone was playing at their maximum, yet offered up less than the expected minimum.
"We put a lot of pressure on them, but I think we lacked a bit of efficiency in the final third, the final pass, the final cross, and we should have been sharper and better around the box," was his assessment of the team's performance, though it should double as a self-review too.
A lot of Odegaard's work came outside the 18-yard box – he had only three touches inside it over in nearly 100 minutes of action – and though he officially created four chances, none of them particularly had West Ham scrambling. The Norwegian also took three shots, none of which were on target or close.
Even away from the cold, hard stats, Odegaard failed the eye test. Almost every time an opportunity presented itself to make inroads, he deferred to a lesser creator, more often than not defensive right-back Jurrien Timber. His trademark scoop over the backline worked once before West Ham sussed it out and reshuffled to nullify it accordingly. If interpretation is up to the viewer and not the artist, then Odegaard was definitively hiding.
Elite creators and midfielders find a way. It's OK to have bad matches and off days, but this has been the story of Odegaard's season as opposed to a small sample size.
Getty Images SportSeason of no-shows
No matter which way you spin it, no matter what excuses and what rationale you can devise, Odegaard has disappointed this season having set the bar so high last term. Again, the stats show you this as much as any standard scouting session.
You can view Odegaard's decline from a statistical perspective in full here at , but here's a rundown of the key attacking numbers in the Premier League (in per 90 minute format to extrapolate more fairly over the course of a season):
Martin Odegaard 2023-24
Martin Odegaard 2024-25
Goals
0.23
0.12
Expected goals
0.22
0.20
Shots (on target)
2.19
1.66
Assists
0.29
0.18
Expected assists
0.28
0.18
Key passes
2.97
2.33
Shot-creating actions
6.41
4.66
Goal-creating actions
0.67
0.55
Passes completed (percentage)
49.3 (84.3%)
46.7 (82.8)
Passes into penalty area
3.79
3.44
Passes into final third
4.66
5.34
In short, they are down across the board apart from passes into the final third, which suggests he has been playing a little deeper this term. When the team has been crying out for a game-changer closer to goal though, a proven option like Odegaard ought to be in the final third more himself.
Getty ImagesWhat's gone wrong?
Beyond the premise of accountability and standing tall when the going gets tough, the main question regarding Odegaard is what is behind this sudden decline? Is it permanent or temporary? Is that same game-changing player still in there?
Players will often point to the effect of injuries as the main proponent over a dip in form. When Odegaard was forced off with an ankle sprain on Norway duty in September and forced to miss 12 games of Arsenal's season, the fears were two-fold – how the team would function without him and whether he would need to be hurried back into the fold.
After a pointless one-minute cameo in defeat at Inter, Odegaard made his full return with a 90-minute performance in November's 1-1 draw at Chelsea, adding little to the game of note but getting some valuable minutes in the legs for the long winter ahead. His next display, taking on the role of chief orchestrator as Arsenal ran through Nottingham Forest as 3-0 winners, gave the Gunners renewed hope this could be their season with their MVP back. The wheels came off that train rather rapidly, however.
There may have been a latency period in Odegaard's return from injury. He may have had the capabilities to perform well in spurts, but he's started 14 of 16 Premier League games since his return, plus seven more across the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. The toll may be catching up to him on a physical level, as is understandably the case with Arsenal's entire core.
It's equally conceivable this downturn isn't a physical issue but a technical and tactical one. The fast-paced Arsenal Ferrari of 2022-23 can no longer run at the same speed because opposition teams have adjusted their strategies, and that might extend to Odegaard as an individual too. As a creator and goal threat, his one-footedness is easier to limit compared to his essentially ambidextrous peers of previous years in Kevin De Bruyne or Bruno Fernandes or Christian Eriksen. Take into account any lingering discomfort in his body and that becomes magnified.
Arsenal's attack is down to the bare bones, so a creative drop-off is expected. The inability and, at times, seemingly the unwillingness to take the game by the scruff of the neck is not. Despite sitting second in the Premier League table, Arsenal rank eighth in shots taken at 13.8 per 90 minutes, way down on the third-place finish in that particular standing at 17.0 per 90 of last season.