If only Arteta's Norwegian would get back on song...

Yet to score from open play this season, Martin Odegaard's woes in front of goal is central to Arsenal's declining threat

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

Martin Odegaard has scored one goal this season, and it was about as inconsequential as they come: a penalty slotted during the 5-2 thrashing of West Ham United in November. He away has recorded a handful of assists across all competitions, but the goals-scored column is otherwise empty.

It is a drastic decline. Last season Odegaard scored eight times; he scored 15 in the campaign before that, topping Arsenal's endof-season charts alongside Gabriel Martinelli. At a time when there is scrutiny on Arsenal's lack of a ruthless striker, underlined by the match-winning performance of Newcastle's Alexander Isak at the Emirates this week, as well as a need for fresh impetus on the wing, Odegaard's goals are needed now more than ever.

The numbers of seasons past, Arteta said on Friday, are just not sustainable. "When you look at probability and samples, sustaining an attacking midfielder scoring 15 goals like he did two years ago, it doesn't happen because it hasn't happened in 50 years." Frank Lampard offers a counter to that point, having surpassed 15 goals in nine out of 10 fruitful seasons in the middle of his Chelsea career. But it is true that Odegaard's haul of 15 came against an expected goals tally of 9.9, and the laws of xG dictate that he would regress.