A familiar Arsenal move unfolded against Chelsea on Sunday, but this time Kai Havertz was the player who understood exactly what was about to happen.

Christos Tzolis collected the ball on the left before moving inside and attacking the space towards the penalty area. Havertz had seen the sequence before, and he knew where Martin Ødegaard was likely to appear.

It was almost a repeat of Arsenal’s competitive debut for Tzolis against Manchester City in the Community Shield a few weeks earlier. On that occasion, the winger carried the ball towards the opposition full-back, shifted inside and sent a low, dangerous delivery towards the penalty spot.

Ødegaard had anticipated the move perfectly. He arrived just behind Havertz, took the pass into his stride and then sold Gianluigi Donnarumma a dummy with his shooting motion. The Norwegian subsequently rolled the ball into an unguarded net.

Against Chelsea, the pattern was strikingly similar.

With the score still level in the opening stages of the second half, Tzolis again cut in from the left. His intended pass was for Havertz, although the ball arrived slightly behind the German forward.

Rather than allowing the attack to break down, Havertz improvised. Having already seen Ødegaard make the same kind of run, he anticipated that his captain would once again drift into the box.

The German produced an exquisite piece of awareness, lifting his foot over the ball instead of taking possession and effectively turning Tzolis’s imperfect pass into a perfectly weighted assist for Ødegaard.

The Arsenal captain needed only one touch to bring the ball under control. This time, Emiliano Martínez was the goalkeeper standing between him and the goal, but Ødegaard calmly lifted the finish beyond him to give Arsenal a lead they would ultimately protect.

A More Dangerous Ødegaard

One of the defining features of Arsenal’s opening to the 2026-27 season has been Ødegaard’s willingness to operate further forward.

His scoring figures underline the change. The midfielder already has three goals in four appearances, a remarkable improvement after finding the net only once across 36 matches last season.

That transformation appears to be part of a deliberate tactical adjustment from Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff. With Ødegaard now fully fit, Arsenal are getting him into attacking positions with greater regularity.

Premier League tracking data shows that Ødegaard is averaging 3.2 high-intensity runs per 90 minutes into the opposition penalty area while Arsenal have possession. Last season, that figure stood at just 1.4.

The sample from the current campaign remains limited, but more than doubling that figure is difficult to ignore. More importantly for Arsenal, those additional movements are translating into a much greater threat around the goal.

His off-ball activity tells a similar story.

Across three Premier League matches, Ødegaard has already made seven runs into the box designed to give teammates a crossing option. He managed 10 such movements throughout the entirety of last season.

On a per-90-minute basis, the increase is even more striking, rising from 0.65 last season to 2.8 this term. That represents more than a fourfold jump. One of those attacking movements helped create his goal in Arsenal’s opening match against Coventry.

After two seasons in which injuries disrupted his progress, the 27-year-old appears to have rediscovered a much more positive trajectory.

For an Arsenal side that has started the campaign looking extremely strong, Ødegaard’s resurgence could be one of the most encouraging developments of all.

The Captain Has More to Give

Ødegaard was an important member of Arsenal’s 2025-26 title-winning squad, but his contribution was restricted by a series of recurring knee problems.

He missed a substantial portion of the campaign and was often carefully managed when available. In league football, he featured for 1,371 minutes out of a possible 3,420, meaning he played only a little over 40% of Arsenal’s available minutes.

His fitness improved towards the end of the campaign, allowing him to participate in several crucial fixtures as well as Arsenal’s run to the Champions League final. Even so, he was nowhere near the central figure Arsenal had become accustomed to seeing since his permanent arrival in the summer of 2021.

When Arsenal initially signed him, Ødegaard was viewed primarily as an exceptionally gifted No 10. Over time, however, his role has evolved.

He has become a more complete No 8, regularly dropping into deeper areas to receive possession ahead of the opposition midfield before helping Arsenal circulate the ball across the pitch.

The early evidence from this season suggests another layer is now being added to his game.

Ødegaard appears increasingly likely to push higher and operate closer to Havertz while continuing to perform his responsibilities as a central midfielder.

That could prove particularly valuable if Arteta continues to deploy Havertz as the main centre-forward.

Havertz Could Change His Role

Havertz does not always offer the reliability of a traditional goalscorer, but his intelligence and technical qualities make him an effective centre-forward.

Rather than functioning purely as a conventional No 9, the German often drops into a false-nine role. That movement creates space, but it also means Arsenal need players around him who are prepared to attack the spaces he leaves behind.

The early signs indicate that Arteta may be asking Ødegaard to become one of those players.

That would naturally increase the Norwegian’s responsibility to contribute goals on a more regular basis. Given his current form, there is reason to believe he can at least push towards his best scoring season, when he recorded 15 goals in all competitions in 2022-23.

His running numbers also point towards a more aggressive approach. Ødegaard is currently averaging 5.6 high-intensity runs ahead of the ball every 90 minutes, compared with 3.9 last season.

The improvement may also have been helped by his summer experience with Norway at the World Cup, where he played an important role during the team’s run to the quarter-finals.

Only Michael Olise, with seven assists, created more goals at the tournament than Ødegaard, who finished with four.

Competition and Fitness Remain Key

Despite his strong beginning to the campaign, Ødegaard cannot afford to relax.

Eberechi Eze remains a significant competitor after filling in for the Norwegian for extended periods last season. Arteta, however, appears to favour Ødegaard in the central midfield role, potentially because of his defensive contribution, positional intelligence and ability to organise Arsenal’s pressing structure from the pitch.

The bigger concern may be whether Ødegaard can remain physically available.

During his first three complete Premier League seasons at Arsenal, he started 32, 37 and 35 matches respectively out of a possible 38. His availability subsequently fell sharply, with 26 starts followed by only 16 across the last two campaigns.

Maintaining his fitness is therefore just as important as maintaining his form.

Arsenal are undoubtedly stronger when Ødegaard is on the pitch, while a consistent run of matches should also give him a better chance of sustaining the level he is currently producing.

The Numbers Point to an All-Round Threat

The statistical picture from the opening part of 2026-27 further illustrates how influential Ødegaard has become.

He is one of only two Premier League players, alongside Chelsea’s Morgan Rogers, to have registered at least 1.0 expected goals and 1.0 expected assists. The figures highlight that his influence is not limited to either scoring or creating chances; he is contributing across both areas.

His involvement in open-play attacks has also been substantial.

Only seven players have featured in more open-play sequences that ultimately ended with a shot than Ødegaard, who has been involved in 20 such moves.

He leads the Premier League in another category, too: four open-play shot sequences have involved Ødegaard both during the buildup and as the player eventually taking the shot.

Those numbers are partly a reflection of the Arsenal side around him.

The team has looked highly cohesive, while relatively few changes to the squad during the summer have helped preserve the familiarity that comes from playing together regularly.

That raises an interesting question. Is Arsenal’s collective efficiency helping Ødegaard perform at this level, or is the Norwegian’s influence one of the reasons the team looks so well balanced?

Since joining Arsenal permanently, Ødegaard has been at the heart of a side that has repeatedly challenged for the Premier League title. His influence on that sustained progress is unlikely to be accidental.

For now, the signs are encouraging. Ødegaard is not simply returning to the form that made him such an important player for Arsenal; the early evidence suggests he may be developing into an even greater attacking threat.

If that trajectory continues, the rest of the Premier League has plenty of reason to be concerned.