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Football London
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Josh Williams & Bailey Keogh

Pep Guardiola explains why Arsenal's 'invisible' man is too good for statistical judgment

Arsenal were lacking the needed attacking creativity at the start of the season, which is why the club lost their opening three matches.

However, Martin Odegaard has seemed to change Arsenal’s fortunes as Mikel Arteta’s side look much more fluid when on the attacking phase of play.

Despite the Gunners looking much more fluid in the attack, Odegaard’s goals and assists still are not amongst the best creators in the league.

Bailey Keogh and Josh Williams discussed the importance of Odegaard on The Arsenal Way’s Analysing Arsenal show.

Josh used Pep Guardiola to highlight why Odegaard is important to the team despite not having the best of goal outputs.

“I wrote a piece recently on a quote Guardiola made, which was on statistics and how certain players drift under the radar without statistics, which I think Odegaard falls under", Josh said.

“I don’t think he will ever be one of them players who is posting 10 goals, and 10 assists per season but I think he will always be the type of player who is positively contributing.

Josh went on to explain why Odegaard doesn’t need the goal output, as he has the ability to influence the game without the statistics.

“He has really good close control, a nice first touch and he can retain the ball in tight spaces,” he added.

“He can keep sustaining attacks, and seems to be an honest type of player who is willing to learn.

"He’s very young, so I only see an upwards curve for Odegaard."

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