Arsenal are in a bad run of form at the moment.
Indeed, the Gunners have been very unconvincing in their last few league games, dropping points against West Ham and Nottingham Forest over the past week, while they had to leave it late against Leicester City the week prior.
Arsenal haven’t been at the races in recent times, and many of their players have been scrutinised.
Martin Odegaard has been criticised for his performances as of late, but according to Darren Bent, speaking on Inside Gooners,it won’t be long before Odegaard is back to his best.
Indeed, Bent reckons that Odegaard isn’t at his best at the moment, but he claims that he’s too good of a player to sustain this poor run of form for much longer.
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Darren Bent tips Martin Odegaard to improve
Bent spoke about Odegaard and his problems at the moment.
Bent reckons that the £30m man is suffering due to the continued absences of the likes of Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Havertz is out for the season, as is Gabriel Jesus, so Arsenal’s attack is disjointed at the moment.
However, Bent did add that he thinks Odegaard will get better in the near future, claiming that he’s not worried about the Norwegian.
“So every single player that he knows in and amongst him, certainly from an attacking sense, is not there. Do you think maybe that’s why Odegaard, a little bit, well, not even a little bit, it’s fair to say, has struggled quite a lot recently,” Bent said.
“Yeah, it’s a big, big problem. And listen, I think he’s too good of a player for it to continue. I think he will get better because I think he’s shown since his time at Arsenal that he, the levels that he can get to. So I think you haven’t really got to worry about him.”
Martin Odegaard stats this season
Bent says that Odegaard isn’t in the best of form at the moment, and the stats do back up his point.
Indeed, Odegaard’s numbers this season are way down on where they have been the past two years.
| Martin Odegaard 2022/23 | Martin Odegaard 2023/24 | Martin Odegaard 2024/25 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | 37 | 35 | 19 |
| Goals | 15 | 8 | 2 |
| Assists | 7 | 10 | 3 |
| Goal contributions per game | 0.59 | 0.51 | 0.26 |
As Bent says, the fact that Havertz, Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are all out of action at the moment certainly isn’t helping things, but they haven’t been out all season.
Indeed, Odegaard has played his fair share of football in full strength Arsenal teams this season, but his numbers have still been rather poor.
Odegaard is out of sorts at the moment, and that’s something that really does need addressing.
Arsenal can’t expect to win a league title with their captain playing in this way, and while the Premier League looks out of reach, the Champions League is still there to be won, but if Arsenal are to stand a chance in Europe, Odegaard needs to improve.
