Arsenal won their eighth Champions League game on the spin on Wednesday night.
Sure, it was against Kairat Almaty, but it still meant that they were the only team to go unbeaten in the league phase.
Moreover, it was a match that allowed the likes of Riccardo Calafiori, Cristhian Mosquera and others to get more competitive minutes under their belts.
Odegaard-Arteta-Arsenal
However, while most of the Arsenal team were impressive enough, it was another middling showing from Martin Odegaard and one that opens up the possibility of him losing his place to one of Mikel Arteta's stars, who has been compared to Dennis Bergkamp.
Odegaard's worrying form
Just a couple of years ago, Odegaard was named Arsenal's Player of the Season for the second campaign running.
However, since then, his place in the team has come under increasing scrutiny.
Now, he certainly wasn't terrible last year, as his return of six goals and 12 assists in 45 appearances was reasonable enough.
odegaard-arsenal-champions-league
However, a 'reasonable' return isn't really enough for the captain of a team fighting for the title, and this season he's taken another step back.
In 24 appearances, totalling 1318 minutes, the Norwegian international has scored just a single goal and provided five assists, which comes out to a pretty poor return of a goal involvement every four games, or every 219.66 minutes.
Odegaard-Arsenal
Unfortunately, his lack of dynamism and impact was once again on full display when he came on in the second half against Kairat on Wednesday.
Now, he didn't do anything catastrophically wrong, but he was uninspiring, and his numbers prove as much.
In 45 minutes, he produced an expected assists figure of just 0.06, missed one big chance, misplaced 100% of his crosses, lost the ball 15 times, failed in 66% of his dribbles, lost four of his six duels and played just a single key pass.
Odegaard vs Kairat
Minutes
Expected Goals
Goals
Expected Assists
Assists
Key Passes
Big Chances Missed
Crosses (Accurate)
Dribbles (Successful)
Lost Possession
Duels (Won)
All Stats via Sofascore
Statistics like those would be worrying against a top team, let alone the one sat firmly at the bottom of the Champions League table.
Therefore, it does now feel like Odegaard is in real danger of being replaced, and Arsenal might already have the player to do just that, someone compared to the legendary Bergkamp.
Who could replace Odegaard
When thinking of potential Odegaard replacements at Arsenal, fans might think of Eberechi Eze, Ethan Nwaneri or maybe even Max Dowman.
Now, it certainly wouldn't be a surprise if one of them did end up replacing the Norwegian ace.
However, the game on Wednesday showed fans that there is another potential option: Kai Havertz.
havertz
The German international made his long-awaited return to the starting lineup, but instead of playing up top, he played in midfield, and to say he did well would be an understatement.
He was here, there, and everywhere, completely running the game from the middle of the park in the first half.
It took him just two minutes to provide an assist for Viktor Gyokeres, who looked much better with the former Chelsea man behind him.
Then, just 13 minutes late, he scored a sensational goal of his own.
It was a strike that required some impressive control on the edge of the box and an excellent finish to boot.
Unsurprisingly, his numbers make for some excellent reading.
In just 45 minutes, he produced an expected assists figure of 0.86, created three big chances, played four key passes, took one shot on target, completed 100% of his dribbles, completed three progressive carries, and took 32 touches.
Havertz vs Kairat
Minutes
Expected Goals
Goals
Expected Assists
Assists
Key Passes
Big Chances Created
Shots on Target
Dribbles (Successful)
Touches
Carries
Progressive Carries
All Stats via Sofascore
In short, it was the sort of performance that should at least lead to more time in the middle for the 26-year-old and one that backs up Paul Merson's claim that he's a "Dennis Bergkamp kind of player" who can be both an attacking midfielder and goalscoring forward.
Ultimately, the opposition has to be taken into account. Still, at the same time, Havertz looked incredible on Wednesday while Odegaard did not, and therefore, if the latter doesn't soon improve, he could see his place taken by the former.
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