Mikel Arteta has been totally vindicated after show of faith in £30m Arsenal star

There were genuine questions asked about Martin Odegaard’s future at Arsenal this summer.

After two injury-ravaged seasons and with the club actively pursuing marquee signings, some wondered whether the captain might be the big-name sale that funded everything else.

Fortunately, that never came to fruition. Mikel Arteta never wavered, and clearly he was right not to.

Odegaard has arguably been the best player in the Premier League this season. Four goals in five games across all competitions — Man of the Match against Manchester City, Coventry, Chelsea and now Napoli. He looks a player reborn.

On Wednesday night in Naples, with the game goalless and Arsenal having spurned chance after chance — Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, and Piero Hincapie all unable to find the net from golden chances — Odegaard settled it with something special.

Substitute Christos Tzolis played the ball to him around the edge of the box, and the skipper let it roll across his body, shifted his weight and belted a left-footed thunderbolt off the post and into the net.

Arsenal dominated throughout — 4.05 xG to Napoli’s 0.22, per Fotmob — and deserved more than the one goal. But the three points are all that matters.

The Martin Odegaard we know and love is back

After seemingly regaining his confidence during the World Cup, Odegaard has returned like a new signing.

His orchestrating, his tempo, his ability to unlock deep blocks, his ball striking — it’s all back, and then some. This is the player Arsenal fans, and even neutrals, used to get genuinely excited to watch.

His goal against Napoli means that after just five games he has already quadrupled his goal tally from the whole of last season, where he was limited to just one goal all campaign.

Some fans had lost faith. Luckily, Arteta didn’t. And Odegaard is repaying it in the most emphatic way imaginable. Final form.