Arsenal FC attack transformed as Mikel Arteta handed solution amid transfer wait

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Arsenal attack transformed as Mikel Arteta handed solution amid transfer wait

Gunners blow away Man City without marquee signing in promising blueprint

Matt Verri, Football Reporter

2 minutes ago

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Martin Odegaard ghosted into space, sat Gianluigi Donnarumma down, and sealed victory for Arsenal.

His wonderful finish came barely two minutes into the second half of the Community Shield, but the job had been done.

Arsenal moved 3-0 up, as it would finish in Cardiff, and Odegaard again found himself lifting silverware for the Gunners.

It is, of course, only the Community Shield. For the superstitious folk out there, no side has won it and gone on to win the Premier League title since the 2018/19 season.

However, the very early evidence this summer suggests that Odegaard is ready to play his part in ensuring the Gunners claim more significant trophies come the end of the campaign.

The 27-year-old has already secured his place in the club's history books. He is the Arsenal captain that lifted the Premier League trophy in May, ending that long 22-year wait.

On a personal level, though, it was somewhat of a frustrating campaign for Odegaard. He was hampered by knee and shoulder issues and started only 16 league matches. Across 36 appearances in all competitions, he scored just one goal.

There were calls for Eberechi Eze to take his place in the side and for Declan Rice to take his captain's armband.

"He missed five or six months for different things and it was extremely difficult for him to get any momentum," Arteta said of Odegaard after the Community Shield.

"I'm sure this year if we can maintain him fit, available with the players around him, we're going to see a very different Martin."

Arsenal still want to strengthen further in attack before the end of the transfer window.

Having missed out on Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Jr, there is a desire to finally land the elite left winger the club have needed for several seasons.

However, appealing options in that regard have diminished as the summer has progressed. It is not clear who that statement signing for Arsenal now is.

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Instead, the most transformative change this Arsenal attack can currently hope for is getting Odegaard back to his best, fully fit and firing on a consistent basis.

The team need that and Odegaard needs it himself. He has entered the final two years of his contract and will want to set himself up for probably the last lucrative long-term deal of his career.

Missing so many games was really frustrating, but I’ve used it as motivation to come back stronger

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard

The signs are promising. It was not just his impudent finish against City but the overall display. His clipped cross brought about Arsenal's second goal and he was central to a dominant performance.

Last season, Odegaard looked a yard short and hesitant in the challenge, perhaps understandably cautious after a string of injury setbacks.

That now seems to be behind him and he appears much stronger for it. He won five of his seven duels on Sunday and nobody on the pitch made more recoveries.

The Norwegian has picked up from where he left off at the World Cup. Only Michael Olise registered more assists than Odegaard at the tournament.

He had three weeks off to recharge before reporting back for pre-season, spending that time with his wife and young son.

"It was massive for me," Odegaard said. "Last year was really a big struggle with a lot of difficult moments. That's the worst thing for a footballer, to not be on the pitch. I had quite a lot of weird injuries and bad luck.

"It was good to end it with the title here and then a good World Cup. Then I had my break. Now I feel good.

"After last season, to miss so many games is really frustrating. What I've done is use that as motivation for this year and come back stronger."

His manager was one of those to immediately sense a difference in Odegaard as he returned to the squad.

"I sense from the first day that he joined that he has something else in the belly that he wants to prove and show because the team needs it as well," Arteta said.

Odegaard only made his first appearance of pre-season just over a week ago. He played 30 minutes against Borussia Dortmund and twice opened them up with through balls.

With Bruno Guimaraes added to the squad, Arsenal will have better technical quality on the ball. Odegaard can expect more opportunities to open up defences when he is found by passes fired through the lines.

Arsenal's title success last season was built on defensive foundations. The club did not have an elite striker and their wingers mostly all struggled for consistent form.

That was still enough. In the absence of a marquee signing in attack this summer, Arsenal will improve if they can get a bit more out of their current forwards.

That is realistic to expect of Bukayo Saka, for example, who Arteta insists is now over his Achilles issue, while Christos Tzolis already looks like an upgrade on the left wing.

Odegaard at his best can elevate this attack to another level. In the 2022/23 season, he scored 15 goals and provided seven assists in the Premier League alone. A year later, he registered eight goals and 11 assists.

An ankle issue during the following season stalled Odegaard's momentum and injuries have been a frustrating theme since then. Rhythm has been in very short supply.

The Community Shield provided the latest proof that Odegaard looks ready to return to those top levels, physically as well as in terms of final-third contributions.

Odegaard has already led Arsenal to a league title as captain. Now he will be desperate to do so again as the creative heartbeat.

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