Martin Odegaard's scorched strike leads Arsenal at Napoli: Has Arteta's unlocked Norwegian's peak?

Martin Odegaard has so long been a part of the soccer world that it's easy to forget that Arsenal's Norwegian playmaker is still 27 until late December. A player who in his low teens was recruited by essentially every major club in the world and chose Real Madrid took a strange and not straight-line route here, but he's at the peak of his powers and may well be the key component to the Gunners' hopes of multiple trophies this year. MORE — Wednesday’s Champions League action as it happened Odegaard scored an absolutely outrageous goal to push Arsenal ahead of Napoli in Champions League play on Wednesday, a spell-binding combination of glove-scorching power and post-smooching precision that few players can manage on any stage — let alone such a big one. Arsenal have played five games this season and Odegaard had scored in four of them, bagging goals against Coventry City and Chelsea in the Premier League, Man City in the Community Shield, and now Napoli in the UCL. That's not exactly a soft list of targets. The Gunners were missing Odegaard for a month-and-a-half last season and who knows how long it took for him to reach 100% as Arsenal won the league and reached the UCL final. As Arteta looks to attack their title defense, he can now do for Odegaard what Pep Guardioal so often did during the prime of Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City: let his best playmaker roam about to find the best spots to paint on his proverbial canvas. Last season, it was Martin Zubimendi holding things down behind Odegaard and that signaled defense-first. Now it's Bruno Guimaraes who can bring flair to that No. 6 role while Declan Rice will also be a bit more free to operate in the middle of the park (Riccardo Calafiori's stepped-forward role also helps things along the way to three points. Martin Odegaard’s scorched strike leads Arsenal at Napoli (video): Is Norwegian at peak of his powers? MARTIN ØDEGAARD. WHAT A STRIKE Watch the #UCL on @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/OlmXw7v23Y — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 9, 2026