Martin Odegaard’s importance to Arsenal has been highlighted by Mikel Arteta’s recent comments.
Odegaard has spent a large amount of the season on the sidelines with an ankle injury he suffered on international duty with Norway.
After missing 12 matches for Arsenal, Odegaard returned to action in the Champions League defeat to Inter Milan earlier this month before his first start in almost three months in the Premier League against Chelsea a few days later.
Now Odegaard has put his injury woes behind him, the Arsenal captain has returned to the starting line-up and played a major role in the back-to-back wins over Nottingham Forest and Sporting Lisbon.
Before the win over Sporting in Portugal, Arteta highlighted the importance that Odegaard has to the Arsenal team and his influence on the rest of the squad.
“It is different [without Odegaard in the team],” Arteta told TNT Sports. “He is a different player and a unique player in our team.
“For the energy that he brings, the understanding of the game that he has and the trust that he has from everybody. He is the player that connects everything, that’s him.
“His body language, his capacity to link with the ball and the way he drives the press makes him a very important player, and that is why he is our captain.”
Arteta echoed that sentiment after Odegaard captained Arsenal to a 5-1 win over Sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Although, the Gunners boss ensured to give credit to the rest of the squad for their impact on the win.
“He [Odegaard] was excellent again,” Arteta told reporters on Tuesday night. “I think all the boys were.
“If not, you don’t have the dominance and the scoreline that we’ve managed to get out of the game today. They were all exceptional today.”
Arsenal are still striving to win the Premier League title despite being nine points behind leaders Liverpool. The Gunners are just one point behind Manchester City, who themselves are on a run of six games without a win.
Pep Guardiola has been forced to deal with several injury concerns, particularly in midfield, with Rodri on the sidelines for the remainder of the season. With Odegaard showing his importance to the Arsenal team once again, Guardiola would be forgiven for wanting the Norway international in his squad amid their winless run.
