Does Arsenal have an unhealthy overreliance on Saka & Odegaard?

Arsenal has become heavily reliant on the brilliance of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, but is it now becoming a problem?

Arsenal's last two Premier League games have seen Mikel Arteta's side struggle going forward, and in both instances, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard have done as they please.

When the duo are up and running, the Gunners purr in a way that sees them as one of the teams to beat in the league, but when the pair have an off day, as they did against Fulham and Everton, Arsenal look toothless in attack. There's no other individual who can pick the lock.

This is amplified by Gabriel Martinelli's failure to produce, too. So much of Arsenal's attack comes down Saka's flank that if teams simply shut it down and force the Gunners elsewhere, they become rudderless.

Former Arsenal winger Karen Carney thinks the Gunners are now too reliant on the star pair, and it's hindering them.

“They’re very right side dominant,” Carney said on Matchday Live Extra on Optus Sport. “ set up a game plan to eradicate that, and being good from set pieces, then you're thinking where else you're going to get goals from.

“The left side isn't giving us the output that want. And that's why I'm saying if they don't go and get someone for the left side, I think they won't ever kick on to the levels where they want to get to. Saka and Odegaard are their main guys, and if you block that, there is a problem. I think the rest of the team is built on really good physicality, and they’re a hard team to beat.”

Given that Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, and others aren't giving the team much in the way of attacking threat, it has been easy for opposing teams to drift their backline to Saka's side, crowd the space, and force the Gunners to look at other avenues of attack.

But that's the problem. Right now, there isn't.

When Saka and Odegaard are in a groove, Arsenal functions like a well-oiled machine. But when teams gameplan to stop them, and they do, it doesn't appear that Mikel Arteta has a plan B. That has led some, including Carney, to suggest that the Gunners need to invest in the January transfer window to ease some of the offensive burden on the pair.

Had Arsenal gotten a little something from the left-hand side, then this likely isn't a conversation, but when things are going well, they need a different outlet.

If they don't get it, there might be a ceiling that this team can reach this year.

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