Odegaard dazzles sorry Leicester as Arsenal glimpse a golden future

There’s a rare calmness and serenity around Arsenal right now that is at odds with both their own recent past and the current assorted strife absorbing their rivals.

While some face existential threats to their very existence and others are fixated upon more prosaic footballing problems of inconsistent form and underperforming squads, Mikel Arteta’s young side just trundle merrily on. This was a lovely fixture for a side in such form, the most routine 2-0 imaginable against a Leicester side that has so disappointed in the league that they are now focused fully on their Europa Conference campaign. They handed Arsenal two desperately soft goals here and did almost nothing to indicate they might have the wherewithal to find a goal of their own.

But that shouldn’t detract from the quality of Arsenal’s overall play, secure and confident in defence on the rare occasions they needed to be and full of zip and enterprise when on the front foot. Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe have taken most of the headlines this season but today it was Martin Odegaard who caught the eye, creating a string of chances and most of the game’s standout moments of individual excellence from twinkle-toed runs to no-look passes.

It all felt so ludicrously easy for Arsenal on the day, and the top-four race – such as it is – is starting to feel the same. They sit fourth now with such margin for error that even a midweek clash with Liverpool holds no great threat. The Gunners have three games in hand on the three teams directly below them and over eighth-placed Spurs who are also six points back.

As all those teams struggle for consistency, Arsenal have hit a rich vein of it at the perfect time. This was a fifth win in a row but also a ninth win in 11.