Arsenal: Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka keeping Premier League title hopes alive

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Arsenal: Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka keeping Premier League title hopes alive

Shearer and Sutton. Rooney and Ronaldo. Vardy and Mahrez. Drogba and Lampard. Silva and Aguero.

Many Premier League champions feature double acts – essential attacking supply lines which feed the title charge.

If Arsenal are to challenge for the title this season, it will be down to their own deadly duo – Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.

Saturday’s 5-2 win at West Ham, during which Arsenal were irresistible for a 25-minute spell in a manic first half, showed what they are capable of when both men are on song.

Most telling was when Saka and Odegaard combined to set up the ******* second goal, shortly after West Ham thought they had equalised only for Crysencio Summerville’s chipped finish to be chalked off for offside.

Odegaard’s chipped through ball for Saka was delightful, as was the Englishman’s square pass to Leandro Trossard who tapped home.

Their on-pitch relationship is so good they can even share penalty duties. With both Saka and Odegaard netting from the spot, Arsenal scored two first-half penalties for the first time in a Premier League match.

“He asked me for the ball – he wanted to score,” Saka told BBC Match of the Day about Odegaard taking the first penalty. “He gives me a lot of ****** so it is nice to return that to him.”

Saka and Odegaard are the key for Arsenal – if both are fit they have a chance of hunting Liverpool down. The awful showing at Bournemouth, when both were absent with injury, illustrated how Arsenal struggle without them.

That game was the nadir of a seven Premier League match spell where Odegaard was absent with an ankle sprain. In the three league games since his return, Arsenal’s captain has contributed a goal or assist in every single one.

“I just wonder, has Martin Odegaard been as big a miss to Arsenal as Rodri to Manchester City?” asked Chris Sutton on BBC Radio 5 Live. “Arsenal are growing on me. With Martin Odegaard back, they are a different team.”

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