Arsenal\u2019s 2026\/27 campaign is still in its opening stretch, but there is already a noticeable change around the team. The common thread in their two victories has been Martin \u00d8degaard, who appears determined to put last season behind him.<\/p>\n
This is a player who spent much of the previous campaign fighting for fitness. A shoulder problem had already been an issue by this point last year, before it was made worse in the fourth match of the season. His return then lasted only 38 minutes before a knee injury sent him out again, and his year was repeatedly interrupted by more setbacks. In total, \u00d8degaard managed only 24 Premier League appearances and finished with just one goal in all competitions.<\/p>\n
That run of injuries prompted questions over whether he was declining, while speculation this summer even linked him with an exit. Instead, the reaction has been emphatic. Four matches into the new season, the 27-year-old has already scored three times and played key roles in major games against City and Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta has been clear about the effect of that frustration. \u201cHe\u2019s fit, he feels confident, I think one of the highest [spirits] that I\u2019ve seen him, and he has a point to prove from last season as well, and after missing so much football,\u201d Arteta reflected.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWhen that happens, Kai [Havertz] the same, Bukayo [Saka] the same … we miss so many attacking players last season for long, long periods, and I don\u2019t know how many times they\u2019ve played together those two in the last year or so, but probably not much, and when you start to feel the chemistry they have between them and what they can produce, it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, he gets to that point because he\u2019s enjoying his football, and when you are that, you have to enjoy what you do, you have to play with real intent, and that\u2019s what I love to see him. Today, he was running forward, he took shots, he created so many situations for his teammates, so it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was frustration over Arsenal\u2019s summer business, especially in attack, but \u00d8degaard\u2019s form has eased some of those concerns. The criticism had centred on the club\u2019s lack of reinforcement after struggling for open-play goals last season. Even so, the captain\u2019s fast start has given the team a far stronger look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00d8degaard has answered doubts with goals, sharp form and a clear point to prove early in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303],"tags":[59,180,182],"class_list":["post-19278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","tag-featured","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}