As Christos Tzolis cut in from the left flank and drove towards the penalty area, Kai Havertz could see history repeating itself. Tzolis had done just the same on his competitive debut for Arsenal against Manchester City in the Community Shield a few weeks earlier, running at his opposition full-back, cutting inside and driving at goal, before fizzing a ball towards the penalty spot. Martin Ødegaard was the grateful recipient, arriving just behind Havertz to take the ball smoothly into his path.
He then faked a shot to send Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way before passing into the empty net. With the scores level early in the second half of Arsenal’s win against Chelsea on Sunday, Tzolis did something very similar. This time, his pass was intended for Havertz, but it was played ever so slightly behind the German.
But Havertz had watched this before. He knew that Ødegaard, upon seeing Tzolis cut in, would have tiptoed into the penalty area. Havertz produced a moment of genius to turn Tzolis’s slightly misplaced pass into a perfect assist, lifting his foot over the ball to leave it for his captain.
Ødegaard again took the ball under his control with one touch, before this time lifting it over Emiliano Martínez to put Arsenal into a lead they would not surrender. Ødegaard getting into more advanced positions has been an early theme of this season. He has three goals in four appearances, after scoring once in 36 outings last season.
There has clearly been an effort from Mikel Arteta and his staff to get their fit-again midfielder into attacking areas more consistently. In Premier League games this season, Ødegaard is making 3.2 high-intensity runs per 90 minutes into the opposition’s box while Arsenal have possession, up from 1.4 per 90 last term. It’s only a small sample size from this season, but the fact that his numbers have more than doubled makes it significant nonetheless.
And most important, his goal threat has clearly skyrocketed. Similarly, he has made seven off-ball runs to make himself a cross option for a teammate in three Premier League games, almost matching his tally from last season (10). On a per-90 basis, that’s 0.65 to 2.8, or more than a fourfold increase.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
