Martin Odegaard has missed 11 games for Arsenal since joining on a permanent basis. Is there anything to learn from those matches before Spurs make it a round dozen?
These are the games in which Odegaard has not featured since joining Arsenal permanently in summer 2021. It is a small sample size which Mikel Arteta might have to learn from in time for the north London derby this weekend. Perhaps start with teaching them to not get sent off.
AFC Wimbledon (September 2021, League Cup third round)
Who replaced Odegaard? Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
All three goalscorers in a comfortable home victory over lower-league opposition have since left, as well as the player who filled in for Odegaard while he was afforded a rare rest. Cedric Soares managed an assist; Maitland-Niles did not.
Funnily enough, the Norwegian was given the evening off in preparation for Arsenal’s next game: a North London derby four days later. That’s hilarious, right? Why aren’t you laughing, Arsenal fans? It’s…oh right.
Leeds (October 2021, League Cup fourth round)
Who replaced Odegaard? Emile Smith Rowe.
Another comfortable Emirates victory, this time against a struggling Premier League side. Calum Chambers and Eddie Nketiah were in and around the goals on this occasion, helped along by a single Nicolas Pepe assist, raising the prospect of whether anyone currently employed by Arsenal has ever had to experience any length of time without Odegaard.
Liverpool (January 2022, League Cup semi-final, first leg)
Who replaced Odegaard? Granit Xhaka.
A 0-0 draw featuring the prestigious final red card of Xhaka’s Arsenal career, obviously for planting his boot in the general area of Diogo Jota’s chest. That inevitably changed the gameplan somewhat and the Gunners held firm for a spirited goalless draw despite having three shots to 17 and just 21.9% possession.
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Brentford (September 2022, Premier League)
Who replaced Odegaard? Fabio Vieira.
Arsenal further underlined their burgeoning credentials with a mightily impressive 3-0 away win, in which Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player in Premier League history with his late cameo. Could he step up in place of Odegaard two years later?
Probably not, no. Nice idea, though. Vieira was impressive enough in the creative midfield role, scoring the third after William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus punished Brentford in the first half.
Odegaard sat it out but do you know who Arsenal played next in his return? It’s pretty funny actually – it was Spurs! What’s wrong? Why are you tearing up again?
Brighton (November 2022, League Cup third round)
Who replaced Odegaard? Fabio Vieira.
Nketiah gave Arsenal an early lead from a Reiss Nelson assist but Brighton came roaring back with three unanswered goals, led by Danny Welbeck. As if to rub salt in the retrospective wound, Joel Veltman played.
Arteta launched a defence of Vieira after the game but those early growing pains were indicative of the Portuguese’s struggles to ever truly acclimatise to the challenge at Arsenal.
Oxford (January 2023, FA Cup third round)
Who replaced Odegaard? Fabio Vieira.
Yet the experiment continued, taking in a 3-0 win which featured a couple of Vieira assists and even a Mo Elneny goal. It was against a team battling League One relegation but still.
You’ll never guess who Arsenal played next when Odegaard came back into the side six days later. Spurs. Away. 2-0 win. Odegaard scored as captain.
This isn’t helping, is it?
Sporting (March 2023, Europa League round of 16, first leg)
Who replaced Odegaard? Granit Xhaka.
A performance of two halves for Arsenal, who arguably cannot have expected much more with Matt Turner in net, Jakub Kiwior at centre-half and Nelson starting on the left. Odegaard was absent due to illness but did travel to Portugal. Someone please just tell him to stay at home and be weird and abusive on social media like a normal Arsenal fan next time he’s not 100%.
Sheffield United (October 2023, Premier League)
Who replaced Odegaard? Kai Havertz.
The answer as to what precisely is needed for Arteta not to play Odegaard was finally delivered with this: a home game against one of the worst Premier League teams of all time, when the Norwegian had sustained a minor injury.
Odegaard was an unused substitute afforded a front seat for Nketiah’s hat-trick and goals from both Vieira and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Havertz was entirely fine, albeit hardly properly challenged.
Newcastle (November 2023, Premier League)
Who replaced Odegaard? Kai Havertz.
The only sustained spell of absence in Odegaard’s entire Arsenal career came around this time last year, when the small issue which kept him out of the Sheffield United rout developed into something substantial enough to sideline him for a trip to St James’ Park; Odegaard played and scored in ten minutes of a League Cup defeat to West Ham in between, which probably didn’t help.
The tempo and control he provides on the ball might well have been missed but it was a tetchy, fractious old game and could have gone either way. Then again, Havertz’s most telling contribution was the awful tackle which lit the black-and-white touchpaper so maybe Odegaard’s slightly less prickly approach might have been beneficial.
Sevilla (November 2023, Champions League group stage)
Who replaced Odegaard? Kai Havertz.
A slightly more malleable opponent presented themselves soon after in Sevilla, who helped Arsenal recover from those damaging consecutive defeats to West Ham and Newcastle.
Leandro Trossard impressed at centre-forward with Havertz slightly deeper; that might be the call Arteta makes for Spurs, unless Raheem Sterling fancies the chance to make Chelsea look silly as quickly as possible.
Burnley (November 2023, Premier League)
Who replaced Odegaard? Kai Havertz.
Only once since his permanent move has Odegaard failed to feature in more than one consecutive Arsenal game. A three-match stretch without him ended in a solid enough win over Burnley at home which reinforced two ideas: Trossard is a wonderful centre-forward option; Vieira is not a reliable attacking midfield alternative.
Trossard scored one and assisted another in a 3-1 victory. Vieira replaced Havertz on the hour and was sent off 24 minutes later for investigating the structural integrity of Josh Brownhill’s knee with his studs.
Even without his loan back to Porto, it feels unlikely Vieira would have been eagerly anticipating the call from Arteta to stand in for Odegaard on Sunday.