Martin Ødegaard suffered a nasty ankle injury on international duty. Although the severity is still to be determined, the timing is especially poor for Arsenal.
When Arsenal players left to join up with their respective national teams for this international break, Mikel Arteta could be forgiven if he’d performed a little prayer to the almighty injury gods.
After all, the international window can wreak havoc and Arteta will have been acutely aware of the games on the horizon for the Gunners once club action returns: three rather gruelling away matches.
There’s the small matter of the north London derby on Sunday, which is followed by a UEFA Champions League trip to Bergamo where they’ll face UEFA Europa League winners Atalanta. Then, after just two days off, they’re away to Manchester City in the Premier League.
It’s obviously a little early for talk about season-defining runs of fixtures, and fortunately they’ve got home games against promoted sides Leicester City and Southampton after going to City.
But having said that, we know the margins are so fine when it comes to chasing success in the Premier League; if Arsenal again fall short of the title by a few points this season, and they happen to drop points in each of their next two top-flight matches, it’ll be hard to stomach.
Of course, we’re a long way off that being a genuine talking point, but Arsenal do appear to have suffered a crushing blow during the international break.
Captain and all-round talisman Martin Ødegaard suffered an ankle injury playing for Norway on Monday. While the seriousness isn’t entirely clear, his national team manager Stale Solbakken told TV2 after the game that it “looked bad in the dressing room” before confirming thorough tests – potentially even an MRI – would be undertaken on Tuesday.
Ødegaard appeared to leave the pitch in tears as he was carried off in Ullevaal. Admittedly not necessarily a foolproof indicator of severity, it’s not exactly a good sign.
The 25-year-old is such a key player for Arteta and the Gunners. Most obvious is what he brings to the team as an attacking force; first and foremost, since the start of last season, his 107 chances created in the Premier League is second only to Bruno Fernandes (117).
But when you only take into consideration chances created in open play, Ødegaard (93) leads the way, so reliable is he when it comes to finding the right pass in the final third.
Unsurprisingly, then, his 11.9 expected assists (xA) is the highest over the same period; although he drops down to joint-eighth for actual assists (10), his xA being higher reflects well on the quality he provides, suggesting he’s potentially been let down by his teammates’ finishing.
There’s nothing wrong with the understanding between him and his colleagues, though, especially Bukayo Saka – last season, they laid on 40 open-play chances for each other (22 – Ødegaard to Saka, 18 – Saka to Ødegaard), more than any other combination in the Premier League. Adding this season into the equation, they’re up to 46.
And yet, Ødegaard also manages to be involved in so much of Arsenal’s general play. His 852 successful passes ending in the final third is second only to Rodri (1,019) since 2023-24 began, while no one can better his 280 involvements in open-play sequences leading to a shot.
Of course, the latter metric includes instances of Ødegaard being the one to take or set up the attempt in a shot-ending sequence. But even when we remove those, his 120 involvements in shot-ending passages is still as high as eighth.
This also helps explain how Ødegaard’s 72 secondary chances created (the pass before the pass that leads to a shot) is six more than anyone else – in fact, he’s one of only three players to record more than 49 since the start of last season.
In short, Ødegaard’s so crucial to Arsenal because his value in possession is through the roof; he creates chances in spades, and he also does such a good job of helping them reach promising positions through his more general use of the ball in phases of possession.
This isn’t anything new to most onlookers, though. However, what he offers off the ball might actually surprise some.
Case in point, his 1,250 pressures (defined as approaching the player in possession with the aim of winning the ball or limiting their passing options) is the most of any Premier League player going back to the start of last season; his 788 in the middle third is second only to Morgan Gibbs-White (803) and his 606 in the final third sees him rank behind just Dominic Solanke (703) and Son Heung-min (679), so two genuine forwards, something Ødegaard is not.
Furthermore, Ødegaard’s pressures have led to 180 turnovers in possession, again a Premier League-high since the start of last season. And 116 of those have been in the final third, with him, Son (136) and Solanke (142) the only ones to break the 100 barrier.
And finally, Ødegaard is also the only Premier League player to surpass 11,000 metres (11,113m, to be precise) in distance closed while pressuring opponents.
His influence is significant and vast, and unsurprisingly Arsenal boast a considerably better record when he’s in the lineup compared to when he’s not. Going back to his Premier League debut in January 2021, they’ve won 66.4% of league games in which he’s started, and 52.6% of those he hasn’t started.
What makes matters even worse for Arsenal is the fact Declan Rice will be missing for the derby due to his controversial red card against Brighton, while new signing Mikel Merino is out until at least October after fracturing his shoulder during his first training session.
And after the Gunners sold Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham and allowed Fábio Vieira return to Porto on loan, they don’t really have a natural replacement. It seems likely either Kai Havertz will be asked to drop deeper or Leandro Trossard is shifted infield, though neither resolution is exactly ideal.
It might not be make or break for Arsenal yet, and Ødegaard’s injury could end up being less serious than first feared. But there’s every chance this proves a major test of Arsenal’s depth and adaptability. Either way, it probably couldn’t have come at a worse time when you look at the fixture list.
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