Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta hopes there is ‘still more to come’ from one Gunners player who already enjoys a ‘massive’ role at Emirates Stadium under the Spaniard.
The north London team have enjoyed a largely strong season so far but their campaign is on inexact foundations now. Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League table with a 2-0 win at Wolves on Saturday and could move four points clear of Manchester City on Tuesday.
But Manchester City will hold two fixtures in hand on Arsenal once Arteta welcomes Chelsea to Emirates Stadium. The top-flight title is also all the Gunners have to play for after losing to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals as well as Arsenal’s brief FA Cup run.
Mikel Arteta hopes there is ‘more to come’ from Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard
Arteta now hopes to see Arsenal ‘keep growing’ while they fight for the Premier League title and wants captain Martin Odegaard to also continue to improve. The Spaniard hopes he has not hit the Norway skipper’s absolute potential after leading the club’s quest for silverware.
Odegaard has featured in 43 of Arsenal’s 47 games in all competitions so far this term with 11 goals and seven assists. Only Bukayo Saka (18) and Leandro Trossard (14) have outscored the 25-year-old this term. Saka (13) is also the only Arsenal player to pen more assists so far.
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Saka (14), Trossard and Kai Havertz (9) are also the only players to outscore Odegaard (8) in the Premier League under Arteta. Saka (8) is, again, the sole Arsenal player to register more assists than the Drammen native (6), too. But Arteta still wants to see more from Odegaard.
“Fulfil his potential? Hopefully not,” Arteta stated during his press conference this Monday. “Hopefully, there is still more to come. He’s still very young and he’s made huge steps in the last few seasons. He’s got a massive role at the club and, hopefully, we can keep growing.”
Martin Odegaard is yet to eclipse his 2022/23 goal and assist tallies in 2023/24
Like Arteta hopes, Odegaard will no doubt want to continue to improve as the Arsenal star is yet to match his efforts from last season. Their skipper scored 15 and assisted seven goals in 45 games in 2022/23. All of his efforts were also during the midfielder’s 37 league games.
Odegaard hit a bit of a slump by his standards between returning from his concussion at the end of November and the start of February. The midfielder only registered one goal and two assists in 11 top-flight outings. But he has three assists and four goals in his last 10 matches.
Arsenal also saw Odegaard demonstrate his intelligence to score in the 2-0 win at Wolves on Saturday. He settled the result in the fifth minute of stoppage time after sneaking the ball in at Jose Sa’s near post. The ball fell back to Odegaard kindly to then slot it through a tiny gap.