Martin Odegaard appears to have his swagger back and looks like a completely different player from last season.
Lifting the Premier League tophy has taken a huge weight off Arsenal‘s shoulders. It took us just a few seconds into the Community Shield to realise that. And it’s the same feeling in every one of their games.
Easy, back-to-back 3-0 wins over Manchester City and Coventry City to start the new season. The match against Aston Villa required a little more work and reminded a few of their wins from last year. But they quickly went back to their best to come from behind and beat Chelsea, then completely dominate Napoli.
And there has been a common theme in all but one of those games.
Why is Martin Odegaard looking like a new player this season?
Second-best goalscoring run of his career
Let’s start with the obvious. It’s already out there that Odegaard has already overtaken his goals tally (four) from last season (one) across all competitions. And it only took him 48 minutes to equal it, by scoring the third of Arsenal’s goals in the Community Shield.
It’s also the same amount of goals he had scored in his previous 57 appearances combined for the Gunners (four).
Additionally, this is the second-most goals the Norwegian playmaker has scored over a five-game span in his entire career. Only in April-May 2023 did he find the net more times in five games (five).
Odegaard has already scored in consecutive matches twice this season, a feat he had last achieved in November 2023. Now, he will look to score in three straight games for the first time since December 2021.
Not afraid to shoot
Scoring stands out for obvious reasons. But it’s important to mention Odegaard’s confidence to actually attempt shots in the first place.
Odegaard is averaging 2.5 shots per 90 minutes across all competitions this season. This number is on pace to match the highest tally of his career in a single campaign for Arsenal (2.5 in 2022/23).
Furthermore, the average of 1.4 shots from outside the box per 90 is currently the highest of his stint with the Gunners. Should he maintain it, it would surpass the same 2022/23 season (1.3).
It was this very skill that unlocked the game against Napoli. A wonderful strike from long rage that hit the post before going in and giving Arsenal all three points in their Champions League opener.
It should have been more, but it took a moment of magic to win it. And Odegaard himself was feeding teammates with plenty of high-quality chances all night long. Which is actually a nice segway into our next topic.
Risky passes paying off
Mikel Arteta caught a lot of flak for his risk-averse approach in recent years — especially the title-winning campaign last season. But things seem to be different now.
Odegaard is currently averaging career-highs for Arsenal in Expected Assists, chances created and through balls attempted per 90 minutes this year.
| Season | Expected assists per 90 min | Chances created per 90 min | Through balls per 90 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 0.56 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
| 2025/26 | 0.27 | 2.5 | 1.4 |
| 2024/25 | 0.28 | 2.5 | 1.1 |
| 2023/24 | 0.28 | 2.6 | 1.0 |
| 2022/23 | 0.25 | 2.3 | 0.8 |
| 2021/22 | 0.17 | 2.4 | 0.6 |
| 2020/21 | 0.21 | 2.2 | 0.5 |
And that’s despite him providing zero assists so far. Arsenal players have let him down in that department, failing to score from the chances he generates. Bukayo Saka, for instance, had a golden opportunity in Naples worth 0.70 Expected Goals, but placed his shot over the bar.
Loose with the ball
Odegaard hasn’t been risky just with his passing and shooting. He is oozing confidence, also attempting and completing take-ons and doing little flicks with the ball at his feet.
In fact, his current average of 1.4 successful dribbles per 90 would be the outright highest of his Arsenal career in a single season. He established this number in the same campaign we have been using as reference for other metrics: 2022/23.
The success rate of 67% would rank second only to his first few months in north London, in the second half of the 2020/21 season (78%).
Focal point
Odegaard has also seen an uptick in on-ball actions this season. He is averaging 87.7 touches per 90 so far, after never having averaged more than 69.4 (2023/24) in a single campaign for the Gunners.
The Norwegian is in the centre of everything that Arsenal are doing well. He led the team in touches in two of their five games so far, doing so in the Community Shield against Man City and the Champions League against Napoli. Coincidentally or not, those were arguably their best performances of the season, given what they delivered and who they were up against.
As a result, the Gunners are enjoying their best averages in goals (2.0) and shots (15.6) per game since 2023/24 (2.2 goals, 15.9 shots). They are also on pace to averaging over 2 xG goals per match for the first time in a season since Odegaard joined the club.
It’s important to reiterate that it’s still early days. Odegaard has played just five games so far, totalling 398 minutes. There is a chance that his high averages eventually – and naturally – go down. It wouldn’t be a surprise and he should not have that held against him if it happens.
He has dealt with a number of injuries over the past few years as well. We as football fans can only hope that they don’t come back around.
But even in a brief period, it’s hard to ignore how much different Odegaard looks — especially when compared to last season. He went from looking like a shell of himself to looking like, far and away, the best version of himself.