Arsenal: 4 most improved players this season

Collectively this Arsenal team have come an incredibly long way. From where they were to where they are has made for enthralling viewing and, best of all, they’re still nowhere near the finished article.

Supporters have loved watching this team develop, and have been completely wrapped up in the exciting hunt for the top four positions.

Arsenal are still well in the pursuit for Champions League football and, watching some of the players week in week out, you can’t help but feel many of them are deserving of playing at that level.

Everyone is still aware that changes need to happen, though. Alexandre Lacazette is leading the line to the best of his abilities as he glues all of the younger and more dynamic components together, and when Arsenal sign his replacement this team will raise its level even higher.

Arsenal: The 4 most improved players under Mikel Arteta this season as Gunners remain in hunt for Premier League top four

Individually speaking, however, we have already seen a host of players lift their respective levels across the campaign, one which now has only ten matches left to play.

Numerous players have stood out for Arsenal, but who has taken the biggest strides of all? Who has upped their game considerably from last season?

Four spring to mind.

1. Emile Smith Rowe

On the one hand you can’t leave Gabriel Martinelli out of the team, yet on the other it is such a shame not to see Emile Smith Rowe playing week in and week out. He’s been magnificent this season.

Suffering a series of niggling injuries, and being the victim of Martinelli’s brilliance, has seen him start just five of the last 16 Premier League matches. Still, despite his limited minutes, the improvements across his game have been noticeable throughout.

The standout area is his goal output. Mikel Arteta said that in order to be a leading Arsenal No. 10 you need he needs to be hitting 15 goals and ten assists, and while the latter looks unlikely, he may very well meet the former.

His movement has always been silky on the eye, but now he’s finding the timing that proficient forwards need when arriving in the box. Add to that his finishing, which has come on leaps and bounds with both feet, and you’ve got this exciting package who has built on the excellent traits he showed last season in other areas of the pitch.

Much like Saka he uses his physicality really well, and the end result is a more rounded forward who excels playing on the exterior and drifting into positions of threat.

There is such a huge future ahead of him.

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2. Martin Odegaard

Martin Odegaard’s improvements haven’t just been this season. The player who arrived in north London over a year ago is unrecognisable from the one fans see today. And that’s not because he was poor, far from it, and instead because he’s now operating in another dimension.

When the Norwegian came on loan we did see dashes of his brilliance. The talent was obviously there and he just needed to find a way to harness it in Premier League football.

What stood out as a criticism for him was that he couldn’t impose himself on matches for the full 90 minutes. He would have excellent spells only to drift out of the game, usually when Arsenal relinquished possession for a period of time, and then he couldn’t wrestle his way back in.

Now his footprints are all over every game, and every blade of grass. Apart from the world class level he’s hitting as a creative outlet, the energy and desire he puts into his work rate is second to none. When Arsenal don’t have the ball he’s now the one making the biggest impression.

As for this season, one needn’t cast their mind back too long to a time when Arteta preferred to field a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 shape with Lacazette alongside or behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. It’s incredible to think that scenario actually happened considering the otherworldly level the 23-year-old is hitting.

Massive improvements all round.

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3. Gabriel Martinelli

Along with Smith Rowe, and perhaps even more so, the standout name when it comes to individual improvement is Martinelli. Remarkably, it was just last November where you couldn’t realistically see him getting any minutes unless an injury crisis struck.

Since coming on as a substitute against Newcastle and scoring a fine volley he has gone on to start each of the following 14 Premier League matches. A firm response to any doubts over his involvement.

With a player as young as 20 years old it means their development is fascinating to watch as you can pick out improvements in almost every game. The Martinelli who had his head down and always sought to be the hero with his desperation to make something happen with every touch is gone. He’s more measured in all facets and he’s refined his approach play to be more of a team player.

Always boasting the ability, one major improvement is his dribbling. He hasn’t always been the cleanest of dribblers (no pun intended), but now he keeps a straighter back, goes inside and outside and varies his body movements more threateningly. He’s a nightmare to defend against.

What about his first touch, too? There is magic in those boots and being fortunate enough to watch this outstanding talent who can be whatever he puts his mind to don the Arsenal red and white every week is a joy to behold.

Best of all is there is so much more to come. His ceiling isn’t visible with the naked eye.

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4. Gabriel

Last season Gabriel got his Arsenal career off to an exciting start when he nodded in from a corner to put his side 2-0 up against Fulham on the opening day of the season. Already by that point the excitement began building.

Despite Arsenal being in dire form across October and November, Gabriel stood out as one of the more impressive performers, before a red card against Southampton saw his season take a turn. He would be in and out of the team in place of Pablo Mari, and as encouraging as the signs were from him, he had an erratic nature to his play that danced between the line of damaging and rewarding.

But he was never signed with the idea that he’d be a world beater in his first season. He joined in the middle of a pandemic, not speaking any English, and featured alongside a series of centre-backs who weren’t his long-term partner. Not to mention the team as a whole were dreadful.

This season he’s cleaned his game up exponentially. The timing of his tackles is smarter, his positioning off the ball is tighter and his distribution out of the back brings a variance to White’s style alongside him. He remains strong in his own box but now there is a heavily reduced concern that he might go to ground unnecessarily.

Having a cemented partner has done him a favour, of course, and he is still not where he needs to be when it comes to measuring his timings in possession, but on the whole he’s evolved into a more well-rounded and imposing central defender who revels in the one-on-one duels and brings cohesion in build-up play.

An Arsenal central defender for years to come.