NAPLES — Martin Odegaard continued his transformed start to the season with the winner in Arsenal's 1-0 Champions League victory at Napoli on Wednesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, thumping home the only goal to make it four goals in five appearances across all competitions. The strike followed his clinching goal against Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday and marks a sharp reversal from an injury-hit 2025/26 campaign when he scored only once.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta put the turnaround down to fitness and new positioning. "First of all he needs to be available and last year he missed so many games through injuries," Arteta said in his post-match press conference. "He's got that edge and different relationships around him as well and that helps," he added. "He can start to go by different heights in the team, especially in the attacking phase, and when we get him into those positions he's a really dangerous player." That shift is reflected in Odegaard's touches in the opposition box rising from 2.5 per 90 minutes last season to 4.3 per 90 so far this term.
Arteta said Odegaard's freedom to advance is enabled by improved ball progression from teammates. "We have a lot of players that can take the ball there and progress the ball much better than we did in the past," Arteta explained. "When that happens, [Odegaard] needs to take different heights and angles and positions in order to disorganise the opponent and he's done that really well." Summer signing Christos Tzolis is central to that, with four assists already this season, three of them for Odegaard goals including the winner in Naples.
Arsenal's dominance was clear in the numbers. They had 26 shots in total — their most on record in the competition since 2003/04 — and posted an expected goals total of 4.05. Odegaard's winner, brilliantly taken from the edge of the box after a 29-pass build-up, was the decisive moment. He also finished having had more touches, made more passes and created more chances than anyone else on the pitch, with a scooped pass to release Ben White for a golden chance spurned by Piero Hincapie highlighting his influence.
"That's what we need," Arteta said. "The players with the mindset to decide a game and play with personality. To keep taking chances and risks. He's getting into those positions much more in recent games and now you feel he has the emotional state that he knows the ball can go in, and he scored an incredible goal tonight." Arteta added: "Martin is contributing goals. That is obviously impacting results which is what we want from our attacking players, to be decisive, and certainly he was that today."