Premier League: What is Arsenal’s best lineup with Martin Ødegaard?

How Arsenal can line up with Ødegaard while having an injury crisis

Arsenal doesn’t have many big names in their squad right now and the player shining the most is Emile Smith-Rowe, who operates in Ødegaard’s position. Arteta needs to come up with a solution for the following games where he’s going to be short-staffed.

The Gunners need to at least get a win from one or two of the following four games. If not, they are in danger of starting the season at the bottom of the table. For these games, Arteta should lineup in a 4-2-3-1 with the following players:

Goalkeeper: Bernd Leno
Defenders: Hector Bellerin, Ben White, Calum Chambers, Kieran Tierney.
Midfielders: Albert Lokonga, Granit Xhaka
Attacking Mids: Martin Ødegaard, Emile Smith-Rowe, Bukayo Saka
Forward: Folarin Balogun.

It’s not the best lineup, but it is what Arteta’s has available at the moment. Ødegaard could help the team generate more attacks. Also, Ødegaard is not available for this weekend’s action and will miss the game against Chelsea since he has just signed for the club.

Balogun had a bad game against Brentford where he barely touched the ball, the Norwegian could help Balogun get some more touches on the ball.

Also, I put Ødegaard in the side as a right-wing because ESR had a great game against Brentford and he seemed very fluid, connecting very well with Saka in the previous game on the few occasions Arsenal attacked the bee.

The English midfielder should keep playing as the attacking midfielder and Ødegaard and Saka can help on the wings. Nonetheless, Ødegaard and ESR would most likely be frequently changing positions during the 90 minutes.