Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka lead the Premier League for open play chances created since the start of last season, emphasising the task Arsenal have without them.
Squawka report that Martin Odegaard has created 93 chances from open play since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, more than any other player in the division.
Next on the list is Bukayo Saka with 86, with Dejan Kulusevski (84) in third, and Cole Palmer, Son Heung-Min, and Bruno Fernandes sharing joint-fourth with 82 each.
It’s great for Arsenal to have two of the best creators in the Premier League, particularly given Saka’s numbers will only be boosted further by his dangerous set-pieces. The winger can do both kinds of chance creation at a very high level.
Yet the stat table also emphasises what Arsenal are missing with Odegaard and Saka out, as they were against Bournemouth and Shakhtar Donetsk.
No other Arsenal player features in the top 10, so Mikel Arteta doesn’t have a ready-made replacement for Odegaard and Saka’s creativity.
It’s particularly frustrating that both players suffered their injuries on international duty. Arsenal can only do so much to keep their players away from the injury ‘red zone’, the rest is up to their national team coaches.
Odegaard had been withdrawn early from Arsenal’s final game in August due to a knock. Then he suffered another knock in training with Norway. Yet they still started him in both games over the break, and that’s when he picked up his more serious injury.
The good news is that Saka appears to be in contention to return against Liverpool, having been running on grass since last week and joining up with the Arsenal squad ahead of Sunday’s game.
With Odegaard still seemingly a little way off a comeback, Saka’s return could be pivotal.
