Arsenal may have stumbled upon a perfect new role for Martin Odegaard as he came off the bench and changed the game against Newcastle United at the weekend.
Odegaard has mostly been a hugely important player for the Gunners, but he’s not quite been at his best in the last year or so for a variety of reasons.
The Norway international had some injury troubles early on last season, and then didn’t quite look as effective in the Arsenal team while Bukayo Saka was out injured, as the pair have so often linked up well.
Now, however, Odegaard has shown he can play in a deeper midfield role, with Jamie Carragher analysing his impact there against Newcastle.
Martin Odegaard shines in new role for Arsenal
Watch below as Carragher spoke on Sky Sports about Arsenal’s tactics as they came from behind to beat Newcastle…
Odegaard came off the bench in that game, and ended up playing in Martin Zubimendi’s deep-lying role, and Carragher felt he was “fantastic” there and had a big impact on the game.
“But actually what was really interesting was Odegaard found himself deeper,” Carragher said.
“Zubimendi came off. He (Odegaard) went into that deeper role and was fantastic and changed the game.”
Arsenal have more options now
It’s quite something that Arsenal can now start a game without players like Odegaard and still put out such a strong line up.
Eberechi Eze’s arrival has been key for AFC, giving them more of a natural number 10 than Odegaard has arguably been.
That means Odegaard can now rest a bit more, but can also play slightly deeper and dictate the play without necessarily being counted on as the main man to create most of the team’s chances and contribute with high numbers of goals and assists.
Players like Zubimendi and Mikel Merino also give Arsenal other interesting and different options for how to set up their midfield.