Mikel Arteta appears to have thrown further doubt on the future of the Arsenal captaincy after his side's 2-1 victory over Brentford at the weekend.
It was a good afternoon's work for the Gunners who were dominant as they secured revenge over Thomas Frank 's side for their 2-0 defeat on the opening day of the season.
Alexandre Lacazette hammered home the extra joy Arsenal's players had felt after the victory by referencing Ivan Toney's now infamous tweet after the game in August with a post of his own that read "nice kick about with the boys."
What appeared to be a fairly routine afternoon though quickly became shrowded in controversy as the Frenchman was withdrawn from the game.
Despite not being officially named as club captain, Lacazette has been in possession of the armband since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was stripped of the role in December due to disciplinary breaches ahead of his subsequent move to Barcelona earlier this month.
During Saturday's match with Brentford the Frenchman was skipper once again, but as Arteta decided to replace him for the final five minutes of the game with Eddie Nketiah, someone else had to take over the responsibility.
Television footage appeared to show Lacazette attempting to hand the armband to Granit Xhaka as he came off, only for the Swiss international to seemingly refuse the responsibility, with Kieran Tierney eventually having to take over. This sparked outrage from pundits around the globe with the likes of Piers Morgan taking to Twitter to describe at as the club's "biggest problem" since Patrick Vieira had left.
However, football.london had later revealed that there had simply been a misunderstanding where Lacazette had been attempting to give the armband to Tierney, only for the Scot - who was on the other side of the pitch preparing to take a throw in - not to hear him.
As a result the Frenchman gave it to Nketiah to then pass on to Tierney, but as the England Under-21 international was told to stand in the centre forward spot by Arteta he tried to give it to Xhaka to make sure it was handed on to the left back.
With play about to resume the Swiss international instructed Nketiah just to hold onto it, with the captaincy eventually being given to Tierney at the next stoppage of play.
As well as clearing up plenty of confusion over what happened on the day, this appeared to have answered the question over who will next be in permanent possession of the club captaincy at the Emirates Stadium.
Lacazette is likely to leave when his contract expires in the summer, and as Arteta confirmed after the game to Sky Sports "Kieran was the next in line."
However, speaking not long after in post-match press conference the Spanaird appeared to go back on his original statement, by offering up a potential new contender for the role.
Martin Odegaard has been one of the Gunners best players in recent matches, and came in for specific praise from Arteta after the game, who revealed that the Norwegian has what it takes to be the skipper in North London.
"He certainly has all of the qualities to do that," the Spaniard said when asked about whether Odegaard could be captain next season. "Absolutely."
The former Real Madrid man has quickly established himself as a leader in the team and can regularly be seen instructing the Arsenal press, and telling players where to stand so that they can receive his passes.
This was on full display on Saturday in particular when he, Bukayo Saka and Cedric formed a devastating trio down the right hand side that Brentford simply couldn't handle.
With these signs of obvious leadership, Arteta seemed to imply that it would be a matter of time before Odegaard was wearing the armband at the Emirates Stadium, just as he does for his national team of Norway.
"Yeah I’m talking to his national team coach and how highly they speak of him," the Spaniard said when asked about whether he could replicate his international responsibilities at club level.
"He walks through the corridor and everybody loves him, he’s such a nice humble guy that leads with the way he is and it’s very natural for him. That will come."
It's testament to Odegaard who had bounced back from a tricky start to life in North London in which he was out of the team during October and November, to now being one of the first names on the Gunners team sheet.
At just 23 years of age, Arteta revealed the sky is the limit for the midfielder who appears to really be growing in stature at Arsenal.
"We had a period with him where we could really evaluate what could Martin bring to the club and we had no doubts," the Spaniard said of the decision to bring him in on a permanent basis in the summer.
"I think the club was brilliant to secure him in a really convincing way.
"Martin was really happy to join us because he had a really good time, he felt valued, he enjoyed what we’re doing, he had a really good connection with the players and the supporters and he wanted to be part of the project.
"Since then he’s getting better and better and I’m not surprised. The way he lives his profession, the way he likes to play football and everything he does is to become better.
"He has still a big margin, but I think he wants it more than probably anybody on that pitch every day and he will be top, top."
