Arsenal captain Odegaard explains how he’s added more goals to his game

• Norwegian filling armband for Gunners
• Making a decisive contribution
• Has been working on adding end product

WHAT HAPPENED? The most recent of those came in a 2-0 victory away at Wolves, with the Norway international playmaker bagging a brace at Molineux. Odegaard only managed seven efforts in the whole of the 2021-22 campaign, while a personal best return of 11 was set during a loan spell in the Netherlands with Vitesse, but he now feels better placed to make a decisive contribution in the final third after working on improving his end product.

WHAT THEY SAID: Odegaard has told Arsenal’s official website of becoming more of a goal-scoring threat for a team that will top the Premier League table at Christmas after reaching the World Cup break: “I think I'm better at coming into those areas now - I attack the box more. They may not be the most beautiful goals but I'm in the right places and that helps a lot. I'm always happy to help the team with goals.

“It's a good way to go into the break. We said before the game that we wanted to finish strong and we wanted to bring this good feeling into the break and we did that. We have to come back even stronger and better but at the moment, it's looking good.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Arsenal have taken 12 wins and 37 points from their 14 Premier League outings in 2022-23, with a five-point lead held at the top of the table.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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DID YOU KNOW? Odegaard is Arsenal’s top Premier League goalscorer this season (6 goals), while only Kevin De Bruyne, James Maddison and Leandro Trossard (6 each) have been involved in more away goals in the competition this season than Odegaard (5 – 4 goals, 1 assist).

WHAT NEXT FOR ARSENAL? Mikel Arteta’s side will be back in action on Boxing Day when taking in a derby date with London rivals West Ham at Emirates Stadium.