Arteta can fix Odegaard injury blow by unleashing Arsenal’s new Mesut Ozil

Just as Arsenal supporters wanted to bask in being top of the table for the duration of the international break, yet more bad news on the injury front comes their way.

On Saturday against West Ham, Martin Ødegaard set an unwanted record, becoming the first player in Premier League history to be substituted during the first half of three successive league starts.

Having seemingly recovered from a shoulder issue, putting in a sparkling display against Olympiacos in the Champions League, the captain suffered a medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee, expected to spend at least a month on the sidelines.

Between this international break and the November window, Mikel Arteta’s team take on Fulham, Crystal Palace, Burnley and Sunderland in the Premier League, also facing Atlético Madrid and Slavia Prague in the Champions League, as well as Brighton in an EFL Cup tie.

In most of those fixtures, especially when Diego Simeone’s Colchoneros visit North London, the Gunners will face their kryptonite, a low block, so Arteta simply must fill the creative void in Ødegaard’s absence with Arsenal’s new Mesut Özil.

Mesut Özil’s impact at Arsenal

In a post-Fabrizio Romano era, it is hard to outline the excitement that Özil’s move to Arsenal brought, with this the peak of Sky Sports News deadline day, as the clip below demonstrates.

Once he arrived, the German had an enormous impact in North London, providing countless numbers of assists and scoring goals on a regular basis too.

Özil was at his absolute best in 2015/16 and 2016/17, with his tally of 19 Premier League assists in the former campaign only ever bettered by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

The German will forever be remembered as Arsenal’s assist king, a key figure in a trio of FA Cup triumphs, very much one of the best players the club have had in the Emirates era.

Who can forget that goal against Ludogorets in the Champions League? Or his trademark finish against Liverpool, bouncing the ball onto the turf and past a bewildered goalkeeper.

While the German’s work rate and body language were questioned towards the end of his career, few can dispute just how magical he was on his day.

So now, fast-forward to today, could one of Arsenal’s summer signings have a similar impact if unleashed by Arteta?

Arsenal’s new creative star

Following Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat at Anfield in August, Arteta was widely criticised for deploying Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino, misconstrued as him deploying three defensive midfielders, which isn’t strictly true, but they do lack creativity.

More recently though, Eberechi Eze was deployed centrally at Newcastle, before starting in tandem alongside Ødegaard at the weekend, albeit that experiment sadly didn’t last too long.

So now, with Ødegaard set to spend an extended period on the sidelines, Eze has to be given the key to this team, deployed through the middle given the Gunners’ upcoming opponents, as he’s the only man who can solve their creativity issue.

Following the dramatic victory at St James’ Park, Arteta admitted that the England international is at his best when utilised centrally, stating “the more we put him in central positions, especially when there’s threat around him, we’re playing to his strengths”.

Meantime, upon his arrival, having hijacked Tottenham’s move, sporting director Andrea Berta labelled Eze a “creative and explosive talent with huge technical quality”, while Arteta noted that he will bring a “new dimension” to his team, given that he is a “powerful and exciting player”.

The 27-year-old has only made eight appearances for his new club but has showcased his quality already, scoring his first goal against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup, while also producing this sublime assist in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli rescued a draw against Manchester City.

Thus, as already outlined, Arsenal’s next seven matches are, predominantly, against teams who will sit deep and challenge the Gunners to break them down, so those in attendance should be prepared to endure plenty of horseshoe of doom when club football returns.

Thus, giving Eze the freedom to roam and create through the middle could be key to combating this, especially considering both left-winger options, Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, have been scoring goals of late.

Eze’s arrival was, possibly, the signing Arsenal supporters have been most excited about since Özil joined back in 2013 so, in a much better team than the German ever was, he could be the player that leads Arsenal to that elusive Premier League title.