Arsenal star who was as bad as Odegaard vs Man Utd must be dropped

Arsenal are top of the Premier League and top of the Champions League. Everything is rosy, right? No, think again.

Mikel Arteta‘s side were defeated by Manchester United 3-2 on Sunday evening, subsequently booed off the park by their own fans at the full-time whistle.

It’s a rarity that such unrest has been felt inside the Emirates Stadium recently but they have spurned plenty of opportunities to really put the title to bed.

Manchester City have been dropping points but so have the Gunners who are now without a win in their last three league outings.

One of their biggest problems is undoubtedly in attack. It runs deeper than simply finding the net; creativity is proving to be a huge issue.

Martin Odegaard needs to improve quickly or he will find himself out of the team.

Martin Odegaard’s performance in numbers vs Man United

On his day, Odegaard is a beautifully captivating player. Not many can carve out a goalscoring opportunity quite like he can. The Norwegian has been a vital part of Arsenal’s rise under Arteta but there comes a time in a player’s career where he needs to be taken out of the firing line.

That time for Odegaard is certainly now. Eberechi Eze must come into the team before Arsenal lose any further ground in the title race.

For the attacking midfielder, this isn’t just a rough patch; he’s been poor for a while now. While he did endure an injury hit 2024/25 campaign, he only found the net three times in the league. This season hasn’t been much better either.

The skipper has scored just once in 23 outings across all competitions. He only has four assists in that time too. His numbers simply are not good enough for a player charged with being the leading creative outlet in a team competing for major honours.

The nadir of his campaign to date certainly came against Man United. The Standard’s Matt Verri wrote in his post-match ratings that Arsenal ‘need more from their captain’ after yet another ‘anonymous’ display in a big game. That’s arguably putting it mildly.

Odegaard was a ghost and it was incredibly damning that Arteta thought to take him off after just 58 minutes. This was not a captain’s display in the slightest.

He trudged off the field having registered his lowest pass accuracy of the entire campaign, all the way down at 67%. While that may indicate he was taking risks with his passing, he certainly wasn’t. The Norway international was simply guilty of gifting possession away on an all too regular basis.

His numbers in a whole plethora of metrics were particularly poor. The skipper won only two of his five duels, didn’t provide a single key pass or cross and failed with his one dribble attempt.

While Odegaard was poor, he was not the only one to blame. Martin Zubimendi’s horrendous back pass allowed Bryan Mbeumo to equalise for United. The defence also had its poorest day in a long time.

Arsenal star was as bad as Odegaard vs Man United

Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba have been celebrated as the finest centre-back pairing in the land, but even they seemed powerless to stop Carrick’s side from taking all three points on Sunday night.

This was certainly one of their worst performances as a combination together, but they were not helped by summer arrival, Piero Hincapie, at left-back.

This was the defender’s first start since returning from an injury lay-off and it showed. While the Ecuadorian has a similarly chaotic energy as Gabriel, he hasn’t showcased the same composure that the big Brazilian has shown in recent years and it would be a surprise if he were in the starting lineup next weekend.

Against United, he was selected ahead of Ben White and Myles Lewis-Skelly in the backline. Against Nottingham Forest a week ago, Ben White started at right-back with Jurrien Timber at left-back. Against Inter, it was Timber and Lewis-Skelly who were picked. That should have been the preferred combination again.

Hincapie looked low on fitness and, truth be told, did not defend hugely well and offered absolutely nothing in attack. There were no Calafiori-esque positions being picked up in the opposition box and there were very rarely any surging runs forward like Lewis-Skelly can offer.

Alongside Odegaard, he was brought off just before the hour mark and did so having completed just 13 passes and had 33 touches, five fewer than goalkeeper David Raya.

While he only lost a solitary duel, with Arsenal needing to find a goal, he didn’t offer himself enough as a productive outlet on the left. The loanee didn’t register a key pass, both of his crosses missed the mark and his only dribble wasn’t completed.

On this evidence, it would be a surprise if Arteta and Co opted to activate their £45m option to buy the Leverkusen defender on a permanent basis in the summer.

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Zubimendi may have had a nightmare for the goal but Odegaard and Hincapie were also anonymous. The Spaniard will likely keep his place in the team. After all, he has cemented himself as one of the best midfielders in the league, but the other two need to be on the bench in a week’s time when Arsenal travel to Leeds United. They were simply not good enough.

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