Martin Odegaard: Arsenal's record with and without injured captain

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 12 Sept 2024 07:52 BST
• 3 min read

Arsenal are set to be without Martin Odegaard for their North London derby clash with Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday.

The Norway international picked up an ankle injury playing for Norway over the international break and after limping off is set to miss at least a handful of games for the Gunners.

Arsenal have not yet definitively ruled their captain out of the weekend’s clash, but it looks highly unlikely that he will have any involvement in what is their biggest match of the season to date.

This is alarming news for manager Mikel Arteta, who will already have to do without midfielders Declan Rice and Mikel Merino. The former is banned while the latter is also injured.

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Odegaard has been a particularly important member of the Arsenal squad since arriving from Real Madrid.

There has been a dramatic difference in the outcome of the Gunners’ matches when he has been in the starting XI.

Arteta’s side have won 66.4% of games the 25-year-old has played whereas in the 19 matches he has not started since joining initially on loan from Real Madrid in 2021, they have claimed 10 victories or 52.6%.

There is also a sizeable difference in the number of goals the Gunners have scored. While they average 2.1 when Odegaard is present, this figure dips to 1.6 when he is absent. Given this knowledge, it is unsurprising that Arsenal have more shots when he is on the park: 15.9 against 13.3.

His presence, meanwhile, does not have an impact on goals against, with 1 in each case.

READ MORE: Premier League top scorers 2024/25

What is Odegaard’s value?

Odegaard is rated as Arsenal’s third-most valuable player by FootballTransfers, with an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €73.6 million.

Coming out on top for the Gunners is, of course, Bukayo Saka, who at €113.5m is regarded as one of the most valuable players in the world.

Also eclipsing Odegaard is Kai Havertz, whose recent excellent form has him sitting at €95.4m according to our unique algorithm, which is based on hundreds of in-game statistics.

Odegaard is, however, regarded as Arsenal’s most skilful player, with his score of 88.7 just edging out Saka (88.6) and William Saliba (88.4).