Martin Ødegaard is getting into more advanced positions and scoring more goals. When he is playing like this, it‘s easy to wonder if anyone can stop Arsenal.
As Martin Ødegaard was the grateful recipient, arriving just behind Havertz to take the ball smoothly into his path. He then faked a shot to send goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way before passing into the empty net.
And with the scores still level early in the second half of Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, Tzolis did something very, very similar.
This time, his pass was intended for Havertz, but it was played ever so slightly behind the German. But Havertz had watched this before. He knew that Ødegaard, upon seeing Tzolis cut in, would have tiptoed into the penalty area himself.
Havertz then produced a moment of genius to turn Tzolis’ slightly misplaced pass into a perfect assist, lifting his foot over the ball to leave it for his captain. Ødegaard again took the ball under his control with one touch, before this time lifting the ball over Emiliano Martínez to put Arsenal into a lead they would not surrender.
Ødegaard getting into more advanced positions has been an early theme of this season. He already has three goals in four appearances across all competitions in 2026-27, after netting just once in 36 outings last season.
There has clearly been a conscious effort from Mikel Arteta and his staff to get their fit-again midfielder into attacking areas more consistently. In Premier League games this season (so, not including the Community Shield and that above run that led to his goal), Ødegaard is making 3.2 high-intensity runs per 90 into the opposition’s box while Arsenal have possession, up from just 1.4 per 90 last term.
It’s only a small sample size from this season, but the fact that his numbers have more than doubled makes it significant nonetheless. And most importantly, his goal threat has clearly skyrocketed.
Similarly, he has made seven off-ball runs to make himself a cross option for a teammate in just three Premier League games this season, already almost matching his tally from the whole of last season (10). On a per-90 basis, that’s 0.65 to 2.80, or more than a fourfold increase. One of those runs led to his goal in the season-opener against Coventry.
After an injury-disrupted couple of years, it appears as though the far-from linear rise of the 27-year-old has taken a steep, upwards turn for the better. And for an Arsenal team looking imperious so far this season, that is a very positive sign indeed.
Their captain played his part in their 2025-26 title triumph, but he probably feels more driven than most at the club to repeat the trick. He missed a big chunk of the season with a series of recurring knee injuries, and when he was available, he was only sparingly used.
He played just 1,371 of a possible 3,420 minutes in the league – a scratch over 40.0% – and although he was available for the run-in, playing in key games as the season came to a close and in Arsenal’s run to the Champions League final, he was a long way from the key man he has been for the club ever since his permanent move to London in the summer of 2021.
Back then, Arsenal were signing a hugely talented number 10, but over the years, Ødegaard has developed into more of a number eight, a rounded midfielder who drops deep to get on the ball in front of the opposition’s midfield and moves it around the pitch.
But the evidence this season suggests that we should expect to see him getting closer to Havertz more often (while also continuing to do the job of a number eight). The German isn’t the most reliable goalscorer, but he is an excellent and intelligent centre-forward who does more of a false-nine role, and he needs more runners ahead of him than
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