Arsenal icon Nigel Winterburn states Martin Odegaard ‘deserves all the credit’ that is going his way. The midfielder has captained Mikel Arteta’s side to the top of the Premier League.
The Gunners entered 2023 with a seven-point lead at the top of the table to the defending champions, Manchester City. They could also extend the margin in midweek when Arsenal host Newcastle United on Tuesday. The Citizens are next in action at Chelsea on Thursday.
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Arsenal built a seven-point gap to Manchester City by beating Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 on New Year’s Eve after Everton had held Pep Guardiola’s side to a 1-1 draw. Odegaard got the Gunners’ second goal at the Amex Stadium, as well, before assisting Gabriel Martinelli.
Odegaard now has five assists in 15 Premier League appearances so far this season for the joint-third-most in the division. Only Kevin De Bruyne (9) and Bukayo Saka (6) have created more goals this term. While Odegaard also now has seven goals, no Arsenal star has more.
Martinelli and Odegaard are Arsenal’s joint-top scorers with seven goals ahead of Arteta’s team hosting Newcastle. Odegaard bagged his latest strike at Brighton after latching onto Billy Gilmour’s poor clearance before then playing Martinelli in with a perfect ball through.
Arsenal are seeing the best of Odegaard since Arteta named him as their captain
Odegaard has come in for lavish praise since his fantastic performance leading Arsenal to a 4-2 win at Brighton. Ian Wright has affectionally noted the Norwegian is ‘doing everything’, Alan Shearer has called him ‘sensational’ and Rio Ferdinand says he is ‘playing like Mozart’.
Arteta will hope for another sublime showing at home to Newcastle with the Toon third in the table at present. He will also adore what the 24-year-old is producing 17 months after the Spaniard paid Real Madrid £34m to turn the midfielder’s loan into a permanent switch.
Arteta also handed Odegaard the captaincy at Arsenal in July 2022 after his strong first full season in north London. And with the 47-cap talent growing into the role more and more with each passing week, Gunners icon Winterburn believes he fully merits the vivid praise.
Winterburn told talkSPORT: “[Odegaard] deserves all the credit he is getting along with the rest of the team because they are all playing to such a high standard.”
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