Arsenal have been punished for failing to adequately replace their most "important player" Martin Odegaard when the Norwegian was out with an ankle injury, according to Gunners expert Charles Watts.
The 25-year-old has been restricted to just five appearances this season due to a serious ankle sprain, and his absence has coincided with Mikel Arteta's side falling a whopping nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool in the Premier League table.
Arsenal allowed two of Odegaard's backup playmakers to leave over the summer, as Emile Smith Rowe joined Fulham permanently while Fabio Vieira returned to Porto on loan, leaving 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri as the captain's only deputy.
Speaking to Sports Mole, Watts believes that Arteta and Edu can be held accountable for failing to prepare for such a scenario, saying of Odegaard: "He's absolutely Arsenal's most important player.
"At the start of this season, people were saying to me, what do you think of Arsenal's window? It was OK, but it feels to me like they've left themselves one short. They let Smith Rowe go, they let Vieira go. It was basically Odegaard or bust in this squad, aside from a 17-year-old, very talented kid, but a 17-year-old kid in Ethan Nwaneri.
"And my big fear was if anything happened to Martin Odegaard, Arsenal would be in real, real trouble because he is the heart or everything in an attacking sense and not even attacking, defensive as well. He leads the press. He's the guy that triggers it.
'Arsenal took a risk with Odegaard and have been punished'
"It's his work rate that gets everyone else going. And then obviously that's before you even talk about creativity and the chance creation and the goals that he adds to this game. He's the most single important player in this team.
"To lose him the way they did so early on, yes, you can point the finger at Arteta, you can point the finger at Edu and say they've put themselves in this situation by letting other players who could fill in for him go and not bringing in a replacement. They took the risk and they've been punished for that. It's just been a massive loss."
Between September 15 and November 2, Arsenal only won three of the seven Premier League games that Odegaard was absent for, while also displaying a distinct lack of creativity in games against Shakhtar Donetsk, Atalanta BC, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, scoring just once across those four matches.
The ex-Real Madrid was able to make his return off the bench against Inter Milan in the Champions League last week, though, before returning to the starting lineup for the first time since August in Sunday's 1-1 Premier League draw with Chelsea, where he provided the assist for Gabriel Martinelli's opener.
Odegaard briefly linked up with the Norway team for the November international break before withdrawing to focus on his rehabilitation at Arsenal, which Watts believes will prove to be the right decision in the long-term, even though he is missing out on potentially useful minutes.
"Just plunking a 70% fit Odegaard in that team at the weekend, it was completely different. It was no surprise he set up the goal. He was the guy who created the big chance with his clever thinking," Watts added.
'Arsenal fans will want Odegaard wrapped in cotton wool'
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"And you look at the other big moments Arsenal had in that game, Odegaard was central to them all. And so it's going to be a huge boost to get him back to full fitness because it was very obvious he wasn't at full fitness.
"The key thing is now keeping him fit. It looked like he was going to be joining up with Norway during the international break. The decision has now been taken after discussions with Norway and meeting up with Norway that that's not happening.
"He's going to be back in London. He's going to stay at Arsenal for the next two weeks, which I think Arteta will probably be happy with. There was an argument that going over with Norway and maybe getting some minutes during the international break could be a good thing in terms of match sharpness, match fitness.
"But I think from certainly the majority of Arsenal fans' point of view, they'll look at it and just think I'd much rather him wrapped up in cotton wool for the next two weeks, get him fit at London Colney before the next batch of fixtures. I think in the long run that's probably a good thing for Arsenal, having him back is massive. It really, really is."
Odegaard's injury is one of several fitness setbacks that Arsenal have had to contend with this term, as Riccardo Calafiori, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu are long-term absentees, while Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice both withdrew from the England squad on Monday evening after suffering knocks at Stamford Bridge.
Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Magalhaes, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Jesus have also spent time in the treatment room this season, but some of Arsenal's absentee problems have been of their own making, with Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba all seeing red in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign.
Are Arsenal's injuries exposing a lack of depth?
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Nevertheless, Watts feels that Arsenal still have enough strength in depth to work around most absences, but the Odegaard risk "came back to bite them", adding: "I still think this is a very good squad and a very good team.
"The depth is not too bad. It's just where there is a lack of depth is really the one position where they got hit. And that was Martin Odegaard. The defensive issues they've had this season, the players who've been out and yet they've still managed to play out a really top quality defence almost every single week because of the depth that they have. Even in midfield, they're still pretty strong.
"Jorginho's barely got a look in this season and yet he had such a big influence on last season when he came into the side. It's just Martin Odegaard. I hate going back to it and I'm not using it as an excuse, but losing him, taking him out of this team has completely changed the outlook of his Arsenal side.
"I do think they've still got a very good squad. They could have got more. You always want more in the transfer window, but I just think they took one risk in the window with Odegaard and it came back to bite them. But I still think the squad's good enough now to go on the run that they need to go on once we come back after the international break."
Odegaard will be expected to make the first XI when Arsenal host Nottingham Forest on November 23 in their first game back following the international break.
Ben Knapton
