Arsenal are currently experiencing a round of poor form, which has seen them drop out of the top four and suffer their first defeat in this season’s Champions League against Inter Milan.
The Gunner’s poor form has been attributed to their recent injuries and the suspension of some key members of their squad, the notable one being the injury of the club’s captain, Martin Odegaard, who was injured in September while on international break and had missed 12 games so far but he made returned during Arsenal’s Champions League defeat to Inter Millan.
Although Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is yet to confirm if Odegaard will start against Chelsea on Sunday in the London derby, BBC and TalkSPORT pundit Ray Parlour believes Martin Odegaard should start against Chelsea and has compared his creativity and vision to Arsenal and Dutch legend Dennis Bergkamp.
What did Ray Parlour say?
The former English footballer said on Talksports: “He’s got the vision, he’s got that creativity.
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“If you look at the midfield area, you’ve got [Thomas] Partey, Declan Rice when he’s playing, [Mikel] Merino’s come into the side as well, very similar players, really.
“All very good players, don’t get me wrong. I’d like to see Declan get forward a little bit more when Partey plays.
“But if Odegaard’s in there, he’s that player who takes the ball in tight little situations. He sees a pass, he creates chances.
“When I watched the Newcastle game, they needed that little bit of creativity because Newcastle were very comfortable sitting in front of the defence. The midfield for Newcastle had done a great job, by the way.
“He just can bring something else from the team, a little bit different to the other players they’ve got. He’s a big miss, but I don’t know how fit he is and if he’s recovered. If he’s 80 per cent, play him for 70 minutes, I would.”
Ray Parlour, who shared the same dressing room for nine years with Dennis Bergkamp during his time at Arsenals, added: “I look at Bergkamp when I played. I wouldn’t say he [Odegaard] is as good as Bergkamp, but he’s very similar in the way he can see vision, and he will create chances.
“‘What I’m saying is he can get into little areas, he’s a very clever player. You watch his vision when he puts balls through. He knows where the runs are going to come from.
“Against Newcastle, I didn’t see that. I didn’t see the creativity from Arsenal’s midfield. That’s what he can bring to the team if he does come back on the weekend.”
Ray Parlour is not the only pundit who thinks Odegaard should start against Chelsea; Paul Merson also believes for the importance of the game and the need for Arsenal to come back to winning ways, Martin Odegaard should start.
Paul Merson said on Skysports when asked whether Odegaard should start in the derby, Merson replied: “I think that comes down to this weekend and the results.
“Arsenal play second on Super Sunday so they’ll know how Liverpool and City have got on. If they’ve both won then I think Odegaard has got to start the game.
“Ten and nine points, if both those teams win, that’s a lot of points, and, for me, it would be a must-win football match, and you take a chance [on Odegaard].
“Otherwise, what do you do? Do you bring him on for the last 20-30 minutes, and then he goes and plays for Norway for a couple of games in seven or eight days? Unless he’s not going away with Norway, and then maybe you sort of save him.
“But if not, I think he’s got to be thrown back in. He’s that important to Arsenal.”
