Martin Odegaard looks like a completely different player this season, and Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal’s captain has finally found the fitness, freedom and positioning needed to unlock his best form.
Odegaard delivered another match-winning performance on Wednesday, smashing home the only goal as Arsenal secured a crucial 1-0 Champions League victory over Napoli.
The goal was his fourth in just five appearances across all competitions this season, an astonishing improvement after an injury-hit 2025/26 campaign in which he managed only one goal.
The numbers tell only part of the story.
Odegaard is also becoming a far greater threat in the final third, with his touches inside the opposition box rising from 2.5 per 90 minutes last season to 4.3 per 90 so far this term.
For Arteta, however, the biggest difference starts with one simple factor: availability.
“First of all he needs to be available and last year he missed so many games through injuries,” said Arteta when asked in his post-match press conference about Odegaard’s improvement.
That improved fitness has allowed the Arsenal captain to build rhythm, develop stronger relationships with his teammates and operate in more dangerous areas.
Arteta also believes the arrival and development of different players around Odegaard have given him greater freedom to attack.
“He’s got that edge and different relationships around him as well and that helps,” said Arteta.
“He can start to go by different heights in the team, especially in the attacking phase, and when we get him into those positions he’s a really dangerous player.”
The change has been particularly obvious in how high Odegaard is getting on the pitch.
Arsenal now have players capable of progressing the ball into advanced areas more effectively, allowing their captain to move into positions where he can hurt opponents.
“We have a lot of players that can take the ball there and progress the ball much better than we did in the past,” Arteta explained.
“When that happens, [Odegaard] needs to take different heights and angles and positions in order to disorganise the opponent and he’s done that really well.”
Christos Tzolis has also played a significant role in Odegaard’s flying start.
The summer signing already has four assists, with three of them setting up goals for Odegaard, including the decisive strike in Naples.
Arsenal’s attacking threat was not limited to one player either.
The Gunners produced 26 shots against Napoli, their highest total in the competition since records began in 2003/04. Their expected goals figure of 4.05 also showed just how many opportunities they created.
But Napoli survived wave after wave of pressure until Odegaard finally produced the moment Arsenal needed.
For Arteta, that ability to step up when the stakes are highest is exactly what Arsenal need from their captain.
“That’s what we need,” said Arteta. “The players with the mindset to decide a game and play with personality. To keep taking chances and risks.
“He’s getting into those positions much more in recent games and now you feel he has the emotional state that he knows the ball can go in, and he scored an incredible goal tonight.”
One goal was enough in Naples.
But Arsenal may have discovered something even more valuable: a fully fit, fearless and increasingly dangerous Odegaard.
And if the captain can maintain this level, the Gunners could have a very different attacking weapon driving their season forward.
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