‘My god, how good is he?’: The Arsenal player who Peter Schmeichel thinks cannot be replaced
Arsenal have some tremendous players in the squad right now but Peter Schmeichel believes there’s one man in particular who can’t be replaced.
Schmeichel watched on from pitchside as the Gunners came from behind to beat Chelsea this weekend.
Like many other pundits at the game, the former Man United stopper was impressed by what he saw from the Gunners.
In particular though, Schmeichel picked out the performance of Martin Odegaard and insisted that if he is taken out of this Arsenal team, then it’s a completely different story.
Arsenal told they cannot replace Martin Odegaard after his display v Chelsea
Odegaard not only got the winning goal yesterday but he also bossed the midfield as Chelsea struggled to match Arsenal’s three in the middle.
The skipper is becoming increasingly important and after Gary Neville called for Odegaard to add more goals, his former teammate Schmeichel lauded the Arsenal captain.
“My God, how good is he? For me, he was the best player on the pitch,” Schmeichel told ViaPlay after the game.
“Of course, we are seeing, we are noticing, what kind of player we like.This guy… what he does for this team is just so impressive. He’s technically so good.
“What he sees, nobody else sees that. Take him out of Arsenal’s team and it’s very, very difficult to see what would happen then. I don’t think there’s a team in the country that has a player of that quality.
“I don’t think there’s a team in the country that has a player of that quality.”
Arsenal’s record when Martin Odegaard plays
Martin Odegaard is Arsenal captain for good reason and Mikel Arteta loves him. There has been debate at times over whether he is what Arsenal need but the simple answer is that yes, yes he is.
Odegaard is the sort of player who makes a team tick. There will be stats on everything he does but even to the naked eye, he is an expert in recycling the ball and making the opposition work hard for it.
In terms of his impact on the team, Arsenal have a 64% win percentage when Odegaard plays, compared to 52% when he doesn’t.
Furthermore, Arsenal also create more chances and score more goals – 2.08 compared to 1.50 without him – and also win more points, 2.12 per game to 1.72 per game when he’s not playing.
In simple terms, Schmeichel is right and over the season, Odegaard will once again show his worth.
