Saturday’s home opener against Leeds United should be an extra special occasion for Martin Odegaard, as he could make his 200th Arsenal appearance.
Our skipper hit 199 against Manchester United last week, having made his debut against the Red Devils back in January 2021. Now he has the chance to become the 118th Gunner to get to 200 games in our colours, a feat he’s achieved very quickly.
None of our players have played more often than Martin since his bow four-and-a-half years ago, with his 199 appearances coming from a possible 229 matches in all competitions, or 86% of all our matches. He’s sat out just 17 league fixtures in that time, while only Gabriel has played more minutes than our Norwegian midfielder.
| Player | Games | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Odegaard | 199 | 15,370 |
| Bukayo Saka | 197 | 15,312 |
| Gabriel | 195 | 16,714 |
| Gabriel Martinelli | 194 | 12,559 |
| Ben White | 161 | 12,436 |
153 of his games have been in the Premier League, with 20 coming in the Champions League and 13 in the Europa League. Another eight were in the League Cup with four in the FA Cup, plus one Community Shield appearance that saw Martin lift the trophy at Wembley back in 2023 - one of 131 occasions he has led us onto the field as captain since being handed the armband for the first time against Southampton in April 2022.
Sunday's win over United saw him claim a 71st Premier League win as our captain, with only Tony Adams (130) achieving more. With or without the armband, Martin has a 60% win ratio during his time with us, and he is just three shy of reaching a century of wins in the English top-flight.
When it comes to making an impact, he has found the back of the net 41 times for us. During his time in north London he is only behind Bukayo Saka in the goalscoring stakes, as well as goal contributions as a whole, with Martin being involved in 77 in total:
| COMPETITION | GAMES | GOALS | ASSISTS | COMBINED |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 153 | 34 | 31 | 65 |
| FA Cup | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| League Cup | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Community Shield | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Champions League | 20 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Europa League | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 199 | 41 | 36 | 77 |
| Player | GOALS | PLAYER | ASSISTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bukayo Saka | 61 | Bukayo Saka | 48 | |
| Martin Odegaard | 41 | Martin Odegaard | 36 | |
| Gabriel Martinelli | 64 | Gabriel Martinelli | 23 | |
| Leandro Trossard | 49 | Leandro Trossard | 21 | |
| Gabriel Jesus | 43 | Declan Rice | 19 |
Of his 34 assists, the player to have benefited the most from his creativity is Bukayo himself, who has scored seven times from Martin’s deliveries, three more than any of his teammates:
| Bukayo Saka | 7 |
| Gabriel Martinelli | 4 |
| Leandro Trossard | 4 |
| Declan Rice | 3 |
| Ben White | 2 |
| Emile Smith Rowe | 2 |
| Gabriel Jesus | 2 |
| Kai Havertz | 2 |
As well as his goals and assists, Martin’s creativity has shown him to be one of the Premier League’s most effective midfielders. Only four players from the division have created more chances for teammates than him in all competitions since his debut:
| Bruno Fernandes | 682 |
| Kevin De Bruyne | 452 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | 426 |
| Martin Odegaard | 412 |
| Mohamed Salah | 389 |
| Bukayo Saka | 375 |
Meanwhile only Bruno Fernandes has won back possession in the final third on more occasions than Martin, highlighting our man’s relentless pressing abilities:
| Bruno Fernandes | 195 |
| Ødegaard, Martin | 186 |
| Mohamed Salah | 184 |
| De Bruyne, Kevin | 178 |
| Bernardo Silva | 166 |
All stats courtesy of Opta