Your team has hit a creative rut that coincided with the absence of your primary playmaker? Get him back and all your problems evaporate. So yes, the semi-frequent leaden-footed attacking, sterile possession and clumsy decision-making that reared its unfamiliar head at Arsenal over the last two months was nothing more than a team unable to cope without Martin Odegaard.

Arsenal: Magic Martin Odegaard lifts mood to reignite title belief - Influential captain delivers an inspired display against Nottingham Forest to show the Gunners just what they’ve been missing

Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal team "flows in a different way" when Martin Odegaard is playing after the Gunners crushed Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Saturday to end their winless run. The team flows in a different way when he is playing.

On his own, Martin Odegaard is an exceptionally good footballer. The same is patently true of Bukayo Saka. Both players are undoubtedly among the very best in the Premier League.

Stunning strikes from Bukayo Saka and Thomas Partey and a first Premier League goal for teenager Ethan Nwaneri gave Arsenal a first victory in five league games.

While Martin Odegaard is fit, Arsenal will feel they are still part of this season’s Premier League title race. It may have been Bukayo Saka and substitutes Thomas Partey and Ethan Nwaneri who netted the goals against Nottingham Forest that secured a first League win in five games for the Gunners.