Shearer and Sutton. Rooney and Ronaldo. Vardy and Mahrez. Drogba and Lampard. Silva and Agüero.
Many Premier League champions feature double acts – essential attacking supply lines that fuel the title charge.
If Arsenal are to challenge for the title this season, they will depend on their own lethal duo: Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
Saturday’s 5-2 win at West Ham, during which Arsenal were irresistible for 25 minutes in a frenetic first half, showed what they are capable of when both men are fit.
Most telling was when Saka and Odegaard combined to set up the lethal second goal, shortly after West Ham thought they had equalised, but Crysencio Summerville’s shot was disallowed for offside.
Odegaard’s pass to Saka was delightful, as was the Englishman’s square pass to Leandro Trossard, who scored.
Their relationship on the field is so good that they can even share penalty duties. With Saka and Odegaard scoring from the penalty spot, Arsenal scored two penalties in the first half 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 balls, so it’s nice to give it back to him.”
Saka and Odegaard are the key for Arsenal: if both are fit, they have a chance of chasing Liverpool. The terrible performance at Bournemouth, when both were absent through injury, illustrated how Arsenal struggle without them.
That match was the low point of a seven-match Premier League run in which Odegaard was absent with a sprained ankle. In the three league games since his return, the Arsenal captain has contributed a goal or an assist in each of them.
“I wonder: Has Martin Odegaard been as big a mistake for Arsenal as Rodri was for Manchester City?” asked Chris Sutton on BBC Radio 5 Live. “Arsenal is getting closer to me. With Martin Odegaard back, they are a different team.”
