Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was Norway’s star in their recent win over Israel.
The former Real Madrid man has had a difficult season. Odegaard spent about two months out with an ankle injury earlier in the campaign, and his form has taken a hit over recent months.
However, nobody can deny the fact that Odegaard is one of the best players in the world on his day, and when he is in the mood, nobody can get close to him.
That’s what happened when Norway faced Israel in their World Cup Qualifiers recently, and Odegaard achieved an incredible feat in that game.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard achieves stunning feat for Norway
Norway haven’t qualified for the World Cup in this century.
Odegaard is the captain now, and we’re sure his dream will be to lead his side to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
After two games in the qualifying rounds, Norway sit on top of the table in their group, ahead of Estonia, Israel, Italy and Moldova.
The 4-1 triumph over Israel showed that they have what it takes to deliver, and Odegaard ran the show at the Nagyerdei Stadion on Tuesday night.
The Norway captain picked up three assists in that game, which is a feat that he has never before achieved in Arsenal’s colours.
The most assists he has provided as a Gunner in a single game since he joined is two – he has done that on six occasions in all competitions. He is yet to get a hat-trick of assists under Mikel Arteta.
However, Odegaard has a lot of time to replicate that in the famous red and white. Hopefully, he will do that against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Odegaard’s numbers at Arsenal show that he still has a lot to improve
Almost all the good things Arsenal do in the final third go through Odegaard.
The Norwegian is the one who pulls the strings in Arteta’s system, and when he has a good game, the Gunners come out on top more often than not.
However, Odegaard’s goal contributions tally should be a lot better than it is right now.
| Games | Goals | Assists | Minutes per goal or assist | |
| Martin Odegaard at Arsenal | 185 | 40 | 33 | 196.47 |
73 direct goal contributions in 185 games isn’t a bad record, but a player of Odegaard’s ability should be scoring and assisting a lot more.
We expect the assists tally to go up once Arsenal sign a clinical centre-forward, but the number of goals he scores has to improve as he misses way too many chances.
Hopefully, that will change in the coming months and years.
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