This is Martin Odegaard's team. Can he kick on and take Arsenal ...

Rewatching Arsenal’s previous meeting with Sporting CP two seasons ago, Mikel Arteta struggled to recognise his team.

During Tuesday’s 5-1 victory — the Portuguese champions’ first home defeat in 418 days — Arsenal looked a far cry from the team of just two months ago.

Arteta offered the shortened injury list and subsequent lift in training level as catalysts but it was obvious to anyone inside Estadio Jose Alvalade that Martin Odegaard is the main transformative force.

The difference that any individual player makes in a team sport as fluid as football is difficult to quantify. Football is not an exact science — but the Norwegian is making it look so.

He is geometry in art form. Every angle and touch is perfectly calculated, each movement and signal from a team-mate instantly calibrated and put into the algorithm that is the Norwegian’s brain — the place where the keys to this Arsenal team reside.

His return does not just represent an upgrade in one area of the pitch — it sets off a chain reaction throughout the entire team.

The high press is suffocating again, Thomas Partey is pivoting and disguising passes through the lines like it’s 2022 and forwards are making run after run in behind as they have faith that Odegaard will find them. Within 20 seconds, even Arsenal’s trademark throw-in routine along the byline created an opening.

There was a moment in the sixth minute when Odegaard received on the half-turn, drove towards the box and, while losing his balance, played a reverse pass into the path of Bukayo Saka.

Sporting defended it but Odegaard immediately switched to defensive mode and forced the player to run the ball out of the pitch. It won him an above-the-head applause from his manager.

This is Odegaard’s team. You can see it in the way his team-mates subvert themselves at times in possession. It explains why, as soon as he returned to the pitch, the ball went to him as obediently as a sheep to a shepherd.

He had the most touches (67), the most progressive passes (four) and the most carries (30) in the team on Tuesday, as shown in his player dashboard below. He was flawless and a step ahead of Sporting all night as he jinked out of pressure and clipped delicate through balls to cut open their back five. He has brought the playfulness back to Arsenal’s football.

How many players could be out with ankle ligament damage for two months and reappear as if we blinked and missed it? Either Odegaard is gaslighting the footballing world or he really did just respawn without skipping a beat.

It is preposterous that his sharpness of foot, mental dexterity and competitive fire were all completely unaffected by an eight-week lay-off but that is how pure a technician he is. There is a repeatability to how he weaves his spells down the right flank but every move also feels entirely spontaneous and unique.

“He’s a big difference,” said William Saliba after the game. “He’s one of the best midfielders in the world so we’re so happy to have him back. We are better with him so hopefully he won’t get injured again. We enjoy playing with him and we can see since he’s back that we are better.

“He’s already a top professional so he worked hard at training. I’m not surprised he came back like this but it’s not easy when you’ve not played for weeks. To come back at this level, I’m not in shock. He’s a top professional.”

Since he became a mainstay in the team in 2021, Arsenal have rarely had to contemplate how the team functions without him. During the two months without him, it was like the bookmark had fallen out and they were rummaging through the pages, trying to remember where they had left off.

Saliba said Odegaard was in the “top three” best midfielders in Europe. “I don’t want to put too much pressure,” he said. “Honestly, every game I am shocked because he has something new. He’s a top player.”

The building of the Sagrada Familia did not stop in 1936 after an arson attack destroyed many of Antoni Gaudi’s original models and drawings. They adapted, choosing to go with imagined interpretation in keeping with the spirit of the architect.

In the absence of Odegaard’s brush strokes, Arsenal adapted by tweaking the shape and using Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz as dovetailing forwards. It initially served an effective gear shift but as the weeks passed, it became clear that by compensating their style to cover the loss of the Norwegian, the purpose of the original blueprint became muddled.

Fortunately for Odegaard, he collided with Austrian midfielder Christoph Baumgartner rather than a tram and could return two months later with plan A back in hand.

There were periods in the first half when Sporting were on a carousel, chasing shadows as Arsenal zipped the ball around them. Odegaard and Partey linked well and the chemistry between Jurrien Timber, Odegaard and Saka saw Arsenal progress down the right flank like they were on a conveyor belt.

Arsenal played with a slightly tweaked midfield setup against Sporting. Rather than the conventional 4-3-3 that sees Partey holding with Declan Rice and Odegaard operating as two central midfielders, Arteta created a diamond in the middle of the pitch.

Rice was tasked with taking up a position as a central ‘No 10’, with Riccardo Calafiori tucking into the left-sided central midfield position and forming a three with Partey and Odegaard.

Rice would time his run to come from the left position and drift behind the Sporting midfield, thus creating an easy pass to him from Odegaard.

After a jolting, uncertain few months, the resounding nature of the victory in Lisbon provided clarity.

This was Arsenal’s most complete performance of the season and it arrived the first time Arteta could field his strongest XI. Timber and Calafiori underlined how their unique profiles help make Arsenal even smoother in possession.

It was around this time last year that Odegaard moved to a new level and took the rest of the team with him.

If he can find any more headroom, Arsenal will not be far away in either the Premier League or the Champions League.

(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Jordan Campbell is a football writer for The Athletic, who regularly covers Arsenal. In 2024, he was named in the 30 to Watch journalism awards. He previously covered Glasgow Rangers and was twice nominated for Young Journalist of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. Follow Jordan on Twitter @JordanC1107