Viktor Gyokeres transfer signals Martin Odegaard Arsenal role change

For the second time during pre-season, Arsenal won a penalty courtesy of Max Dowman's brilliance. Against Newcastle United and Villarreal, the 15-year-old used his skill to win two spot-kicks, both of which were dispatched.

However, it was not the typical penalty taker, Bukayo Saka, who scored them. Instead, captain Martin Odegaard stepped up to take the penalties.

After missing his penalty in the shootout against AC Milan, following his disappointing penalty against Manchester United in the previous season, it was certainly beneficial for the skipper to step up in pre-season and notch a couple to regain confidence. And what a couple of penalties they were, both the one vs Villarreal and his shootout strike at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday were excellently taken and supremely finished.

However, it raises the question of whether the Arsenal penalty order has changed, especially after the arrival of specialist spot-kick scorer Viktor Gyokeres. The short answer is no, but the longer answer crosses over slightly into the yes column.

In essence, Bukayo Saka remains the main penalty taker. It just so happened that when Odegaard was responsible for taking the penalties, Saka had left the field of play due to a substitution.

Odegaard has always been second in line, and so it was not a surprise he took them. Where Gyokeres comes in is slightly different, however, because he is very well-known for scoring penalties, and the longer he goes on without a goal, there will be calls for him to take one – à la Kai Havertz.

Hopefully, that will not be the case. But here, he, too, was not on the field for either of these two moments and, therefore, could not take the penalty kick.

So we still do not know the official order other than the presumption for now, Saka is the main penalty taker, with Odegaard second. When both or all three are on the field and a penalty is won, we should then get our answer as to whether Odegaard has been supplanted as penalty taker number two.

Story Saved

You can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.