Arsenal: 4 positive takeaways from Southampton win

4. More Goals From Midfield

Midfielders who score goals are confident midfielders. Arsenal having two of those is most welcome.

Bukayo Saka will score across this season, even if his tactical role in the team is moulded more towards being a creator than a finisher, and with the strikers drawing blanks it’s paramount that the numbers are bulked up elsewhere.

When you have central midfielders who are more likely to score in their own net than in the opposition’s, seeing Odegaard and Smith Rowe pop up with the goods at the right end of the pitch is something for Arsenal to build on.

In the cases of both they’ve got themselves on the scoresheet in similar fashion: well-timed runs into the box with one touch finishes. Boasting two wide threats like Tierney and Saka who are excellent at cutting the ball back, having midfielders with the technical quality to hit first time efforts is a winning combination.

For Odegaard, perhaps the best aspect of all is that he’s scored this three goals like a perfect hat-trick: right foot, left foot (shin) and header. Nobody is expecting him to be scoring plenty of anything, let alone headers, but such variety in finishing demonstrates his skillset. Especially considering how one-footed he usually is.

With strikers more likely find themselves punished than on the scoresheet, sharing the goals around the team as seen at Southampton and across this season couldn’t be better timed.