Going into this season, even despite his fantastic World Cup campaign, fans might have wondered if we were witnessing the slow decline of Martin Ødegaard, soon to be fazed out. But instead, it's been the opposite. Martin Ødegaard has not only been Arsenal's best player to start this season, but arguably the best in the Premier League over the opening three matches. Here is why the Arsenal captain has thrived in 2026-27 so far.
Earlier this week in my Arsenal preview, I declared the Gunners as favourites for the Premier League title again in 2026-27. They’re just so complete. So well drilled. So organized. No missing components to the puzzle. It’s a really efficient side that Mikel Arteta has built, and one that can hurt opposing teams from such a vast variety of angles. To no surprise, they rolled Frank Lampard’s Coventry City over in the opening fixture of the 2026-27 season - claiming an impressive 3-0 win. All eleven players in an Arsenal shirt stood out. Tactically, two of the players deserve the most post-game commentary.
It might be wrong to credit this tactical approach to Pep Guardiola. After all, the origin story to the 'fullback' is because the defender was fully back. However, in operating with a centre-back that steps up into midfield, Guardiola also created a construction within his team that regularly positioned centre-backs out wide. From then on, this approach has only become more popular. It's been the top tactical trend of 2023, and often one that's allowed the best teams in the world to thrive.
There is nothing that fascinates me more about tactical team construction than how managers change the job titles of certain players to achieve certain results. That may be to combat a strength of an opposition, to bring out a strength in their own team set-up, to bring the best out of a player at their disposal, or even simply to fill a hole. I created an entire series around this premise called 'Game of Numbers', analyzing the various roles that individual players take up to help their teams achieve success. With that, I highlight some of the best positional tweaks this campaign, detailing how managers were able to get the best out of each player.
I've long been a defender of Sean Dyche's intensive and defensive, "long-ball" style. But there's perhaps no greater victory in his entire career than starting off at Everton with an absolute bang, beating the league leaders in Arsenal, who had previously only lost a single league game. Everton themselves had not won under Frank Lampard since October. But Sean Dyche would have relished the challenge of his first match, and would have taken all the pressure off his players to perform on the opening day. It showed in their performance, with the Toffees achieving a shock 1-0 win over the current title favourites. Here is how Sean Dyche's Everton beat Arsenal.
2022-23 has gone better than anyone at Arsenal could have ever imagined, with the Gunners topping the table for the vast majority of the campaign. After sixteen matches, only two sides have taken points off Arteta's men, with the Spaniard's side becoming completely solidified at all ends of the pitch. Here is our analysis of Arteta's Arsenal in 2022-23.
Ben White has been one of the understated members of Arsenal's revolution into one of the Premier League's supreme outfits in 2022-23. The Gunners currently sit top of the table after their formidable win against a dissolute Spurs side, with Ben White performing a pivotal role in the big win.
At the start of the 2021-22 campaign, all hope seemed to be lost for Arsenal. After losing their opening matches to Brentford and Chelsea without scoring a single goal, the Gunners suffered an embarrassing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City. To make matters worse, their arch-rivals had beaten Guardiola's men on the opening day of the season, and sat top of the table at that time. Meanwhile, the Gunners sat rock bottom, with Arteta's future in doubt. Weeks later, Arsenal and Spurs faced off in the North London Derby, where the Gunners came out guns blazing, securing a stunning 3-1 victory. Ever since, Arteta's Arsenal have been full of light and positivity, playing some of their best football under the Spaniard. Arteta may not have fully flipped the script on his abilities, but for the meantime, Arsenal sit in fourth place, full of promise for the future. So with that, here is our 2021-22 tactical analysis of Mikel Arteta's team.
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