It was a Premier League weekend filled with mixed emotions for Arsenal.
On the other hand, Manchester City were soundly defeated by their rivals on Saturday morning.
But on the other hand, Mikel Arteta’s side were unable to make the most of it, as they were unable to beat struggling Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, opening the gap to Pep Guardiola’s side to just seven points.
It was a game to forget for the entire Arsenal team, but especially for Martin Odegaard. He could eventually be replaced by a star player like Arteta’s Phil Foden.
Odegaard’s disastrous game vs Forest
Now, it should be said that Odegaard wasn’t the only player who disappointed fans and managers on Saturday night.
However, his performance was more disappointing than most of his teammates. Not least because as captain he should have been held to a higher standard.
But for virtually the entire first half and while he was on the pitch in the second half, he was completely powerless and almost unknown.
That may sound too harsh, but it was an opinion echoed by Arthur Ferridge of the Standard, who gave the Norwegian a match rating of 4/10 and wrote that he “struggled to get involved.”
Naturally, the Drammen-born ace’s statistics amply support such claims.
Odegaard vs Forest | |
|---|---|
minutes | 56 minutes |
path | 18/21 (86%) |
key pass | 1 |
shot | 0 |
touch | 27 |
Loss of belongings | 7 |
dribbling (successful) | 1 (0) |
tackle | 0 |
intercept | 0 |
Duel (win) | 2(1) |
All stats by Sofascore | |
In 56 minutes of play, he made one key pass, only 18 completed passes, no shots, failed 100% of his dribbles, lost 50% of his duels, lost the ball 7 times, and had just 27 touches.
Making matters worse is the fact that the Gunners could have moved up to nine points against City if they had won.
Furthermore, this is not the first time the former Real Madrid wonder has disappointed this season, with a similar performance against Liverpool last week.
Overall, the entire squad needs to step up their game for the remainder of the season, and if Odegaard fails to achieve the same, he could end up being replaced by one of Arteta’s most exciting talents.
Arsenal’s talent who could replace Odegaard
There has been talk of Ebelesi Eze replacing Odegaard in the near future, but one player who we feel could ultimately end the captain’s Arsenal career is Ethan Nwaneri.
Sure, that won’t happen this season, and it might not happen next year, but the idea of Hale Ender eventually replacing the captain doesn’t seem all that far-fetched for a number of reasons.
The first is his positional versatility.
Like the captain, the teenage prodigy is best suited for an attacking midfield role, although he tends to drift slightly to the right.
This was one of the reasons why he was so good at covering Bukayo Saka at the point last season.
Speaking of last year, the second reason why the “phenomenal talent” described by Sky pundit Stephen Warnock could be the perfect long-term successor to the Norwegian is his track record.
For example, the young English player played in 37 matches, played a total of 1378 minutes, scored 9 goals and provided 2 assists.
Women working 24/25 hours | |
|---|---|
Appearance | 37 |
minutes | 1378′ |
the goal | 9 |
assist | 2 |
Number of goals involved per match | 0.29 |
Hours per goal involvement | 125.27′ |
All stats via Transfermarkt | |
That’s an impressive average of one goal involved every 3.36 games, and more importantly, one goal involved every 125.27 minutes. This would be an amazing number for a veteran professional player, let alone a youth player.
What’s more, this ability is the ability to produce goals, including some so impressive that one analyst claimed that “Ethan Nwaneri could become Arsenal’s version of Phil Foden”.
All in all, while fans are understandably upset following Saturday’s performance, things are still looking incredibly positive for Arsenal this season.
However, if Odegaard does not begin to return to the player he was a few years ago, he could eventually be replaced by Nwaneri.
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