A Love Letter To Arsenal Captain Martin Odegaard 

I Love You Martin Odegaard says Gooner Fanzine writer Henry Waddon - here's why 

Wow. What a moment.

Whatever we were expecting to witness in a banana-skin of a fixture on Wednesday evening, this performance and result blew apart all suppositions.

Mik Arteta’s Boys in Red heard rumours of a carnival atmosphere in Eindhoven, and decided to keep the party going long into the darkness of the Dutch evening.

And at the centre of proceedings was our MC, MØ.

It’s been a tricky few weeks (if not months) for Martin Odegaard.

The Norwegian stalwart has had to recover from a prolonged and untimely injury amidst the emotional rollercoaster of becoming a first-time father.

Off the back of these life-shifting moments, our captain returned to full fitness just about in time for the eyes of the entire fanbase to fall on him, with the expectation of him dragging us to our first Premier League trophy in two decades nye-on single-handedly because of an injury crisis that has seen many of our other world-beaters sidelined.

Perhaps predictably, when results haven’t gone the way we so desperately want, the toxic, vitriolic, ever-more-terrifying timeline has come to speak unthinkably dismissively of Martin Odegaard.

And there’s no doubt that his level has dropped somewhat this season. But… honestly… with the rational cap that we so rarely reach for pressed firmly on… how much can you truly blame him for that?

The right-hand-side triangle of White-Saka-Odegaard, which has brought us so much joy over the last three seasons, has largely become a single decimal point in the vast, lonely expanses of the Emirates carpet this season, with our StarBoy and Zante Zanetti respectively injured for huge proportions of the season.

And with every week that passes, the low blocks that we face seemingly become dirtier, filthier, and somehow lower than the week before.

Odegaard is tasked with the increasingly impossible job of unlocking these defences, with what could only (and quite generously) be described as a ‘makeshift front three’ ahead of him when he picks his head up.

But Wednesday night was a beautiful, necessary reminder of what a beautiful, necessary player Martin Odegaard is.

The occasion served as fierce vindication for we Founding Members of the Martin Odegaard Fan Club.

As has so often been the case since his signing for the club, I genuinely felt lucky to be watching him play for the Arsenal.

Two goals and an assist, tireless metronomic play dictation, travela passes, driving through lines. It was everything you want from a midfield playmaker, and from a captain.

The significance of netting twice can also not be understated given the criticism he’s received this season for not converting anywhere near often enough, and indeed for seeming slightly hesitant in-front of goal.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that, when we look back on this player, we will place him firmly in the echelons of your Cescs and Ozils and Pires’s.

That may feel like blasphemy to you, but it’s scripture to me.

He is comfortably my favourite player of the Emirates era, and he has steered the helm of a project that has truly transformed what it’s felt like to follow this incredible club.

Dips in form are temporary (even if they come at earth-shattering moments that see us fall way short of our title aspirations). Class is eternal.

But, like our entire squad, he needs us just as we need him. If we forget him whipping in the corner for Reiss Nelson’s historic goal against Bournemouth, if we forget him slipping Leo in against Porto at home last season, if we forget his 25 yard, inch-perfect finish at Tottenham (A), if we forget him toying with Chelsea in that 5-0 drubbing last season, then we are spoilt and ungrateful, and our memory is incredibly short.

During low ebbs, we have to back our captain, and cannot succumb to the mindless hot-takes on the timeline.

Because a confident Martin Odegaard can produce the calibre of performance we witnessed this evening. A confident Martin Odegaard can create special, special European nights.

May there be many more special European moments between now and the end of May.