There is no doubt that Martin Odegaard has not had the season he would have hoped, as he finishes the campaign with just two goals and six assists to his name in the Premier League so far. He has missed eight matches of the league campaign, which were brought about by an ankle injury suffered on international duty earlier in the season.
He returned from the injury and it is thought this was the catalyst to his downturn in output and form. Even after arguably having his game of the season against PSV Eindhoven when the Gunners scored seven goals, Odegaard scoring twice and assisting once, he admitted that he was self-critical.
"I'm very used to people speaking about me, judging my performances and I do that myself," he said. "I'm harder on myself, and I know that I have not been good enough, especially in front of goal.
"I work hard every day to improve it, and I know I have the ability and the talent to do it. PSV Eindhoven was good and hopefully now I can do more towards the end of the season."
After picking up the Arsenal Player of the Season award from the previous two campaigns, it is rather maddening that his dip in this campaign sparked questions from some about his captaincy. Nuts, obviously, but it is worth looking deeper into his campaign, which might reveal where the problems lie.
New data released by FBRef, powered by Opta stats, has shown that for a creative player, Odegaard still ranks exceptionally highly among his peers in the top five leagues. Looking at the below graphic for both creative passing and deep-lying playmaking, Odegaard remains one of the continent's leaders.
While criticised for not being creative enough, Odegaard sees only Michael Olise across all of Europe's top five leagues come out on top when it comes to passes into the box per 90 for the 2024/25 season.
While his xA has dropped this season, this could be due to a number of reasons. Kai Havertz has been missing for the entire second half of the campaign, as has Gabriel Jesus, while Bukayo Saka missed the majority of the season with his own hamstring injury. The lack of quality in the forward line and a natural centre-forward figure has definitely impacted Odegaard’s ability to create.
The usual right-hand side lost not only the familiarity with Saka, but Ben White has also been absent. When they reunited at Ipswich Town, this was the first time since November that the trio had started a match together.
While Jurrien Timber has been excellent in White's stead, partnerships and understanding takes time to form; when the line-ups have changed so often through factors beyond Mikel Arteta's control, this explains so much of the individual player's struggles.
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