Joe Cole says two Arsenal players have forced Martin Odegaard to be dangerous again | OneFootball

Joe Cole has praised Arsenal attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard for his performance against Napoli and believes that Max Dowman and Eberechi Eze are the reasons he is starting to get back to his best.

Arsenal kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win against Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday evening.

Norway international attacking midfielder Odegaard scored the only goal of the match after 75 minutes.

The former Real Madrid player found the back of the net with a superb finish from outside the box.

It was Odegaard’s fourth goal in five games, including the Community Shield.

The Arsenal captain’s overall performance against Napoli was impressive, too, as he took three shots and created six chances.

Former Chelsea star Joe Cole was hugely impressed with the display produced by Odegaard.

The TNT Sports pundit believes that the emergence of Dowman and the signing of Eze from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2025 have forced Odegaard to raise his game.

Praise for Arsenal star Martin Odegaard

Cole told TNT Sports: “Ignore the scoreline.

“That is a wonderful away performance in the Champions League.

“The football that Arsenal played was sublime at times.

“Odegaard was brilliant all night. He’s back to his very best.

”What a start to the season. And from his perspective, he’s probably thinking that the season he had last year – although he got the title – wasn’t his best season.

”He dropped below his standards.

“He’s now got Max Dowman coming through, [Eberechi] Eze has joined the club, so he’s turned up this season and thought, ‘Right, I’m going to take this club by the scruff of the neck.’

”He looks like the player that we admired from 18 months ago, absolutely brilliant.”

Cole added: “It’s a display of a No. 10. He receives the ball, he’s patient.

“Everything runs through him.

“He is at the peak of his powers, it’s beautiful to watch.

“Last season he wasn’t there.

“He’s come in with a new verve.

“You can’t not love watching him play football.”

There was further praise for Odegaard from Arsenal legend Martin Keown, too.

Keown said: “They were relentless tonight.

“If you were to ask that Napoli team, ‘Talk to me about that game’, they [would say they] got worked.

“Arsenal were physical, tough in the duels.

“Lots of players were making their first start tonight but they were still razor sharp, hard to beat.

“It’s all there and Odegaard is the icing on the cake.

“Getting central and then shooting from distance.

“I can’t remember the last time he scored from outside the box – I’m told it was last December but it feels like an age ago. He looks like the real deal.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, too, was hugely impressed with Odegaard’s performance and believes that the 27-year-old is “dangerous” again.

Arteta told Arsenal’s official website about Odegaard: “That’s what we need, the players with that mindset to decide the game, and to play with that personality, that an action might not happen, it’s the next one, the next one, and keep insisting, keep taking chances and risks.

“He’s getting into those positions much more in recent games, and now you feel he has this emotional state that he knows that the ball can go in, and he scored an incredible goal tonight.”

Arteta added: “First of all, he needs to be available, and last year he missed so many games through injuries.

“He’s got that edge, and he’s got now different relationships around him as well, and that helps, and now he can start to occupy some very different heights in the team, especially in the attacking phase, and when we get him into those positions, he’s a very dangerous player.”