EMIRATES STADIUM — At last, with his sixth created chance of Tuesday night, Martin Odegaard finally got the assist a majestic individual performance warranted to put Arsenal 3-0 up against Chelsea.
It would have been a travesty if the 25-year-old had ended the Gunners’ 5-0 thrashing of their hapless London rivals without one. Ultimately, he managed two from eight chances created. No other player on the Emirates turf made more than five passes leading to a shot. Chelsea’s entire team made six combined.
Both of Odegaard’s goal involvements were brilliant in different ways but the first, finished off by a grateful Kai Havertz, was a thing of beauty. A pass so good you wanted to shake its hand or take it out for lunch.
When Odegaard received the ball from Gabriel, midway inside Arsenal’s half and not far from the left-hand touchline, Chelsea’s players wouldn’t have expected to see it spinning in the back of Djordje Petrovic’s net just five seconds later. That much was evident by the distinct lack of pressure they applied to the Norwegian.
Kai Havertz puts the icing on the cake against his former club
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All it took was a quick glance forward – it’s always forward with Odegaard – and a satisfying swish of his left boot to break a back four built from breadsticks. The ball rolled so perfectly into Havertz’s path that he didn’t even have to break stride: a False 9’s dream.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Havertz for having the composure and quality to finish it off with a confident chip over Petrovic. It’s the type of goal that belongs on Premier League Years and end-of-season highlight reels. Had it not gone in, it would have been forgotten about, condemned to a life on ropey YouTube compilations.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of it is that we have seen it before. From Odegaard certainly, but more so from Kevin De Bruyne, who has been around at the top for longer. Time and time and time again, in fact. It was the kind of assist that the Belgian has made his signature move during his near decade of destruction in the Premier League.
You know the one. Sent from that inside channel between the perimeter of the pitch and the centre circle, whipped low along the ground with the sort of curvature more typically seen on a bowling green, before stopping dead in the perfect spot. It was similar to the one De Bruyne served up on a silver platter to Leroy Sane against Stoke City in 2017.
The key difference was that it was transported via Odegaard’s favoured left boot, rather than De Bruyne’s trusted right one. Either way, both players have pillows built into their boots, so feathery is their touch.
Havertz, who enjoyed a dream night against his former club, owed Odegaard as much after missing an easier chance to score from a clever reverse ball that travelled towards the six-yard-box. The Blues badly missed Cole Palmer at the Emirates but it says plenty about the wastage of the calamitous Clearlake Capital era that the Wythenshawe wizard is the only recruit from a £1bn spend that is remotely in Odegaard’s league.
Less than 15 minutes after registering his seventh league assist of the campaign Odegaard produced his eighth. This time he delved into Mesut Ozil’s box of tricks with a delightful dink that floated over to Ben White who swept a first-time volley into the top corner. Judging by the right-back’s sheepish reaction it was intended to be a cross rather than a striker’s finish. Or perhaps he was just flustered at the quality of the service.
Chelsea have crumbled
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Ben White bags a 5⃣th for Arsenal
It was a masterful display from Odegaard who took advantage of the freedom afforded him by a solid support cast of Thomas Partey and Declan Rice and the oceans of space given up by Chelsea’s £222m midfield pairing.
Rarely have Odegaard, Rice and Partey started a game together and as a trio, they blend perfectly. Mikel Arteta may come to rue not having the luxury of picking them in tandem for all but a handful of games. “We have missed Thomas since August, and he’s a big player for us,” Arteta acknowledged after.
For virtually his entire Premier League career and especially during the Pep Guardiola years, De Bruyne has stood apart as the Premier League’s undisputed creative king.
Ozil was too inconsistent to ever truly rival him; Eden Hazard was more of a marauding magician than a lock picker; Christian Eriksen was superb at Spurs but not quite in De Bruyne’s league. Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have never had a No 10 in a traditional sense, the creative onus instead falling on Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Now he has competition alright. De Bruyne remains well capable of producing match-winning moments but age and injuries are beginning to catch up with him. It’s a stretch to label him a fading force but given he turns 33 at the end of June, his peak years are certainly behind him. Odegaard has been the Premier League’s playmaking prince for a number of seasons, patiently biding his time to take the top crown. That day is growing ever nearer.
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