Odegaard Shines Again as Arsenal Triumphs in Community Shield
Martin Odegaard did not so much score as stage a small piece of theatre.
He slipped into space, waited for Gianluigi Donnarumma to commit, then rolled the ball past him with the calm of a man playing in the park, not in a showpiece against Manchester City. Two minutes into the second half in Cardiff, Arsenal were 3-0 up in the Community Shield. The contest, in truth, was already over.
The captain lifted another trophy in red and white. No marquee forward signing, no new superstar winger. Just Arsenal dismantling City with a familiar face back at the centre of it all.
Odegaard, again the difference
Call it a glorified friendly if you like. The Community Shield rarely defines a season and no team has done the Shield–Premier League double since 2018/19. But this felt like more than a ceremonial curtain-raiser for Odegaard.
The 27-year-old has already carved his name into club folklore as the captain who finally hoisted the Premier League trophy in May, ending that 22-year wait. Yet his own title-winning season never quite caught fire.
Knee and shoulder problems stalked him. He started only 16 League games, managed just one goal across 36 appearances in all competitions, and spent long stretches watching from the sidelines as others carried the load. The debate began: should Eberechi Eze take his place? Should Declan Rice wear the armband?
Mikel Arteta never wavered.
“He missed five or six months for different things and it was extremely difficult for him to get any momentum,” the Arsenal manager said after the win in Cardiff. “I’m sure this year if we can maintain him fit, available with the players around him, we’re going to see a very different Martin.”
On this evidence, that version has already arrived.
It was not only the composed finish past Donnarumma. Odegaard’s clipped cross led to Arsenal’s second goal and he dictated the tempo in a way that City never truly solved. Last season he often looked half a step off it, reluctant in the duels, understandably wary after repeated setbacks. On Sunday he snapped into challenges, won five of his seven duels and made more recoveries than anyone on the pitch.
The hesitancy has gone. The edge is back.
A transfer window without the ‘statement’ star
Arsenal’s recruitment plans have been clear for some time. They want an elite left winger. They tried for Morgan Rogers. They looked at Vinicius Jr. The list of realistic, available, top-tier options has shrunk as the summer has dragged on, and that dream “statement” signing now looks increasingly vague.
Arteta has been open about wanting more firepower in the final third. The club’s title win was built on defensive solidity; they did it without an elite No9 and with wingers who struggled to sustain form across the campaign. The idea this summer was to fix that.
The market has not played along.
So the most significant attacking upgrade available to Arsenal might not come from a new face at all, but from their captain returning to his old levels and staying there.
Odegaard has entered the final two years of his contract. This is the stretch that will shape the last major deal of his career. He knows it.
“Last year was really a big struggle with a lot of difficult moments. That’s the worst thing for a footballer, to not be on the pitch,” he said. “I had quite a lot of weird injuries and bad luck. It was good to end it with the title here and then a good World Cup. Then I had my break. Now I feel good.
“After last season, to miss so many games is really frustrating. What I’ve done is use that as motivation for this year and come back stronger.”
He took three weeks off after the World Cup, time spent with his wife and young son, and returned looking refreshed rather than jaded. Arteta noticed it immediately.
“I sense from the first day that he joined that he has something else in the belly that he wants to prove and show because the team needs it as well,” the manager said.
Rhythm restored, weapons upgraded
Odegaard’s pre-season only began in earnest just over a week ago, with a 30-minute cameo against Borussia Dortmund. Even then, the signs were there: two defence-splitting through balls in half an hour, the old vision and weight of pass back in sharp focus.
He has carried that form straight into competitive action. The Norwegian has simply continued what he produced on the international stage, where only Michael Olise registered more assists than him at the World Cup.
Now, he will have better tools around him. The arrival of Bruno Guimaraes boosts Arsenal’s technical quality in midfield. With more progressive passing from deep, Odegaard should see the ball fired into his feet between the lines more often, where he is at his most dangerous.
This is where the numbers matter. At his peak in the 2022/23 Premier League season, Odegaard scored 15 goals and provided seven assists. The following year he still posted eight goals and 11 assists despite the interruptions. Then came the ankle issue, then more niggles, then the stuttering rhythm that defined last season.
Arsenal’s task now is simple: keep him fit, and the attack changes without a single new forward signing.
Bukayo Saka is expected to go up a gear again, with Arteta adamant his Achilles problem is behind him. Christos Tzolis already looks like an upgrade on the left, giving Arsenal a more direct, incisive threat in wide areas. Layer that on top of a fully firing Odegaard and the picture shifts.
Arsenal won the title with a functional, often misfiring frontline. What happens if their captain returns to the form of a ruthless, goalscoring No10?
The creative heartbeat, again
For all the tactical tweaks and transfer noise, Arsenal’s blueprint in Cardiff was strikingly familiar: defend with discipline, move the ball with precision, and let Odegaard orchestrate in the final third.
This time, though, he looked lighter, quicker, more certain in everything he did. No strapping, no visible discomfort, no sense that he was playing within himself.
The Community Shield will not define Arsenal’s season. It will not settle the title race or the transfer window. But it did offer something more valuable for Arteta than any new signing: proof that the player who once scored 15 League goals from midfield and dragged this team towards contention is still there, ready to do it again.
Odegaard has already captained Arsenal to one Premier League crown. If he really is back to his best, fully fit and brimming with that “something else in the belly” his manager talks about, the question now is not whether he can repeat it — but how much higher he can push this team from the No10 position they have built around him.
