Martin Odegaard has just given Mikel Arteta a new trick to add to Arsenal's playbook

Martin Odegaard's excellent start to the new season continued on Thursday night when he provided two assists for Norway against Denmark in the Nations League.

The Arsenal captain started in the Scandinavian nation's midfield trio and produced an outstanding performance as the 2026 World Cup's surprise package won 3-2 in Oslo. A brace from Erling Haaland and a strike from Oscar Bobb cancelled out goals from Mikkel Damsgaard and Rasmus Hojlund in what was a frantic game at the Ullevaal Stadion.

Odegaard's form has been rejuvenated since he led his country to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in the summer, and he showed no signs of slowing down on Thursday.

This was as complete a display from the Norwegian playmaker as we've seen, and Mikel Arteta will certainly have had a lot to take from it if he were watching live.

Mikel Arteta will be thrilled with second Martin Odegaard assist vs Denmark

Odegaard delivered a typical Odegaard assist for Bobb inside the opening 15 minutes in Oslo. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box in the right half-space, he neatly slid it into the Fulham winger's path before the recipient of this intricate pass curled it home.

We've come to expect this sort of ingenuity from Odegaard, and we've certainly seen him deliver this exact assist on numerous occasions in the past. However, his second assist on the night was much more atypical of the 27-year-old, and would've stood out more to Arteta for this season.

With the game poised at 2-2, Norway opted to play a corner short, with Odegaard taking the ball to the byline, before cutting it back to Haaland, who had positioned himself away from the melee in the six-yard box and near the penalty spot. Unsurprisingly, the robotic centre-forward slammed home in emphatic fashion.

This set-piece goal would've stood out to Arteta because it's replicable. Arsenal have endured a dry spell from set-pieces so far this season, with teams perhaps clocking on to Nicolas Jover's playbook. They're yet to find a way to score from a dead-ball situation, and Arteta will be eager to address this issue after the international break.

A route to addressing this profligacy is by coming up with new plays to trick the opposition. Arsenal have experimented with short corners in recent months, but haven't committed to deploying them regularly.

Odegaard's assist for Haaland shows they have someone capable of executing this well-worked routine. They also have players who have the capacity to pull off the smart movement Haaland showed to get into the right position to recieve Odegaard's pass.

The international break isn't always a breeding ground for disastrous i njuries for Arsenal; it can also be used to devise interesting new tactics based on what the players in front of you demonstrate they can do away from North London.

Add us as a preferred source on Google