'He was tremendous': Mikel Arteta left completely blown away by £30m Arsenal player vs Leicester City

16/02/2025 07:35

Mikel Arteta would have let out a sigh of relief after the final whistle was blown to confirm Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Leicester City.

As much as Arteta would have ideally liked Arsenal to perform at their brilliant best and tear the Foxes to shreds, it must be hard-fought victories like Saturday’s result that he may cherish the most.

The Gunners were not firing on all cylinders for much of the game but Mikel Merino saved the day with a brilliant brace off the bench as a makeshift striker to give Mikel Arteta a reason to be optimistic after Kai Havertz’s season-ending injury.

Apart from Merino and the prodigious Ethan Nwaneri, another Arsenal player who impressed against Leicester was Martin Odegaard.

With Bukayo Saka’s injury ruling him out until March, Odegaard has to step up his game and against Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side, he was largely excellent.

In the first half, the Arsenal captain was perhaps the visitors’ brightest spark after Nwaneri.

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Mikel Arteta raves about “tremendous” Martin Odegaard after Arsenal beat Leicester City

Odegaard was especially influential in the second half as the North Londoners picked up their levels as a whole after the half-time break.

For Merino’s second goal, it was the £30 million (Sky Sports) man who started the brilliant counter-attacking move by providing an incisive through ball while being pressed right outside the box.

Mikel Arteta was asked about how Odegaard let from the front for Arsenal against Leicester and he agreed.

Arteta said via Arsenal’s official website: “Absolutely, he was tremendous, I mean, everybody raised the level in the second half because the way we were playing the first half, it was not going to be enough to win it in the manner that we’ve done it and we knew that and we stepped up the level and I think we deserved to win the game.”

Last month, Ian Wright felt Odegaard was not fully fit and playing through an injury which explained the decline in his form.

However, Odegaard, described as “really special” by Ruben Amorim is an experienced player and heading into his side’s clash against Leicester, the Norwegian would have put pressure on himself to perform.

The 26-year-old certainly did as Arsenal seem unwilling to hand Liverpool a clear run to the finish line and lift the Premier League title this season.

The numbers further indicate how influential Odegaard was.

Martin Odegaard stats in Leicester City vs Arsenal

The former Real Madrid technician completed the most passes (63) out of any player on the pitch, had a pass accuracy of 90 per cent, completed two out of his three dribbles, created two chances, played 11 passes into the final third and provided four out of four accurate long passes.

Odegaard will already have his sights on his side’s upcoming clash against West Ham United.

The Norway skipper has already lost two league titles at Arsenal.

As a result, Odegaard will be more hungry than most at the Emirates Stadium to finally break the club’s 21-year barren run without a league title, especially being the man donning the armband.