What Declan Rice did during Martin Odegaard moment speaks volumes for Arsenal's title race

Arsenal ensured they stayed at the top of the Premier League with yet another important win and Martin Odegaard starred with a key role against Brighton on Saturday afternoon.

The Premier League title race is heating up over the festive football fixture period and Arsenal's hopes at the top are sustained owing to Martin Odegaard. The club captain played an important role against Brighton on Saturday afternoon, opening the scoring after just 14 minutes.

Arsenal deployed a high press to win the ball back from the Seagulls, who were attempting to play out from the defence, with Bukayo Saka cutting the ball back to Odegaard. The Norwegian playmaker shaped up to hit the far corner, but quickly lashed the shot into the near side, beating the outstretched hand of Bart Verbruggen.

That was an important moment for Arsenal - while an own-goal from Georginio Rutter doubled their lead - before Diego Gomez made things nervous at the Emirates Stadium. In the end, Mikel Arteta's team grabbed another three points, with their captain to thank for another week at the top of the Premier League.

The celebrations spoke volumes about Odegaard's impact on Arsenal's squad, during a period where he has come under scrutiny for his lack of output. Declan Rice, in particular, emphasised the importance of the club's skipper, as he repeatedly pointed to him while looking at the crowd.

It shows just what the squad think of the playmaker, as well as underlining how key he will be to unlocking games for the Gunners going forward. It's been a testing first half of the season for the 27-year-old, who has been inflicted with three separate injuries so far this campaign.

Two shoulder injuries broke up the first few weeks, prompting Arsenal to go out and sign Eberechi Eze for their forward line as competition. An ankle injury followed, meaning Odegaard has played just 11 matches so far in the league, coming as quite a blow.

That has led to some questions over how crucial he really is to the squad, following on from a season when he didn't have quite the output to match his reputation. His goal against Brighton is his first of the season, while he has another two assists so far across all competitions.

It was just a few days prior to that when Arteta praised Odegaard's leadership, after he handed a penalty over to Viktor Gyokeres in the win over Everton. He said: "Yes I agree with that [Odegaard showed leadership].

"And as well the confidence on the player because obviously he practices every day. He's unbelievable at it and he put the ball in the back of the net. I love when players take ownership and decide what is the best decision. That's something really positive."

That was another show of confidence from the manager in his captain, after discussion had circulated once again over whether Arsenal should have picked another skipper. Speaking at an Irish Independent Sport event, former Arsenal captain Tony Adams had said: "Every now and again as a manager, you have to put someone who reflects you, who reflects the football club that you think can actually take you to the next level.

"Declan is my kind of captain and what it might do is free up Martin Odegaard to play with more freedom. You've got someone in there that is going to play every game and lay the foundations of a title-winning team.

"Declan Rice can do that, Odegaard can’t. Come on Arteta, make him captain."

While that may have been a discussion point before a slow start of the 2025/26 term for Odegaard, he has shown glimpses of his quality. It speaks volumes that Rice would want to shout about the club captain in his celebrations, after he finally got back onto the score-sheet.

Now, it will be crucial for him to be at his best to help Arsenal in their title race challenge up ahead.