By Danong and 1970s Gooner
Arsenal will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening in the London derby. The Gunners go to this game following two consecutive defeats (1-0 to Newcastle and 1-0 to Inter Milan). They've also gone winless in their last three league games.
What's so obviously been missing in recent games has been a lack of creativity in the final third which has resulted in a struggle to create and convert chances.
Against Inter Milan, in that 1-0 Champions League loss, Arsenal had 20 shots and 46 crosses but still couldn't get a goal, failing to score twice in a row.
Certainly in the absence of creativity a team reverts to relying solely on crosses which is of course not a viable strategy.
Since his injury on international duty in September, Martin Odegaard has not played in the league. Arsenal's engine room has sorely missed his contributions.
In recent weeks, Arsenal's pressing has been subpar. Who leads the press from the font? Odegaard.
They were unable to break down defenses and there is a lack of creativity: who creates most of the chances? Odegaard.
Who orchestrates Arsenal's buildup? with Odegaard the Gunners have the capacity to build from the back when he drops in to help carry the ball.
In his six meetings with the Blues, he has two goals and three assists. He certainly looks forward to playing against Chelsea.
Remember when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted, "The impact Martin has in everything that we do, it was too big to try to replicate it with one player"
Clearly, Arteta acknowledged that his game plan revolves around Odegaard, which makes it understandable why Arsenal has missed him so much. His possible return will be a huge boost.
As Arsenal hope Odegaard can help their attack click Chelsea too will hope Cole Palmer can do the same. Palmer has been nursing an injury he sustained against Manchester United last weekend and is also a doubt for the encounter.
As per Paul Merson, if Palmer misses the game, Arsenal will win, as he feels Chelsea just can't function so well without the Englishman.
Now surely, Chelsea versus Arsenal cannot after all be a Palmer versus Odegaard matchup. There are the rest of the players who will have to function at their best to win the game.
What the Gooners must hope is that Mikel Arteta is brave enough to start Odegaard, who in a few minutes against Inter Milan showed us what we've been missing.
Against Inter, it was clear that whenever the Norwegian playmaker received the ball, everyone immediately moved and simply trusted that it would arrive.
Arsenal will play as their lives depend on this game and will get back on track to challenge for the title.
Paul Merson has predicted a 2-2 draw. We think he will be wrong.
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