Martin Odegaard: Com­pared to last sea­son, it’s com­pletely dif­fer­ent

Martin Odegaard: Com­pared to last sea­son, it’s com­pletely dif­fer­ent Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard feels he’s ‘back to normal’ now, after an unusual season of injuries in 2025/26. Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images Martin Odegaard has made a strong start to the season with Arsenal , scoring five goals and assisting one, and just generally adding a lot to his team’s midfield play. Perhaps just as importantly, the 27-year-old has been consistently fit for selection. He’s featured in all 17 of Arsenal’s games in all competitions, starting 13, including 10 starts in 10 Premier League fixtures. Speaking after his winning goal against Hull City , Odegaard has picked out his fitness as the key difference between this year and the last. Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images “Obvi­ously, com­pared to last sea­son, it’s com­pletely dif­fer­ent. It was a frus­trat­ing one with all the injur­ies and lots of bad luck,” Odegaard said . “It was hard to get into a rhythm. “This sea­son I feel good. I feel like I’ve done well to get back to my best level. “Hon­estly, I haven’t changed a lot. I think last year was a lot of bad luck. I had some weird injur­ies, twice with my shoulder and then two knee injur­ies. “Last sea­son felt really strange, so it feels great to be back to nor­mal.” Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images Odegaard had seven distinct injury absences in 2025/26, having also missed 15 matches through illness and injury in 2024/25, so there were understandable fears that he’d struggle to build up momentum this year. On top of that, 2025/26 was a very low-scoring season for Odegaard. Only one goal in 36 appearances is far from the form he’d shown previously, putting up double figures for goalscoring in 2022/23 and 2023/24. So, for this season to start with 17 consecutive appearances and five goals already is a real positive, and it’s little wonder Odegaard is feeling good. Now, he just has to stay fit through the international break, with Norway facing Wales on Saturday, November 14th and Denmark on Tuesday, November 17th. Photo by Marius Nordnes / Nordnes Foto/Getty Images