‘Spectacular’… Alan Smith names Arsenal’s best player v Sheffield United, he was even better than Declan Rice

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Martin Odegaard blew Alan Smith away as Arsenal hammered Sheffield United 6-0 on Monday night.

Few were really expecting to see Sheffield United pose much of a problem against Arsenal.

The Blades are heading for relegation back to the Championship and have been beaten heavily on numerous occasions this season.

Arsenal added to their woes with a ruthless first-half performance, kick-started by Martin Odegaard opening the scoring.

Jayden Bogle’s own goal made it 2-0 before Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz added to the scoreline.

Declan Rice made it 5-0 before the break with Ben White adding the sixth after the break, compounding Sheffield United’s misery.

Arsenal were able to coast through the second half and secure another thumping victory in their pursuit of the Premier League title.

Alan Smith on Martin Odegaard

This was a scintillating display from Arsenal, at least in the first half anyway.

Arsenal didn’t really need to do much in the second half and that was summed up by Mikel Arteta substituting star man Bukayo Saka at half-time. 

A number of players were able to lay claim to being the Man of the Match, but former Gunners striker Alan Smith made his choice clear.

Smith, speaking on Sky Sports (04/03, 21:53), named Martin Odegaard as his star man of the night.

Smith suggested that Saka, Rice and Martinelli were all in the running but Odegaard was ahead of all three for Arsenal.

The former Arsenal hitman added that Odegaard was ’so smooth, so spectacular’ at Bramall Lane, hailing him as the driving force behind a huge win.

“A few candidates, Saka, Rice, Martinelli, but I’m gonna give it to the skipper,” said Smith. “He’s been at the heart of so much, he’s been so smooth, so spectacular at times,” he added.

Odegaard racked up four key passes, three dribbles, one shot on target and one goal whilst completing 84 passes in a dominant performance.

Odegaard is really shining as Arsenal captain this season and whilst being named Man of the Match will be pleasing, he will certainly have bigger accolades in mind come the end of the campaign.