Arsenal’s William Saliba considers Martin Odegaard to be one of the world’s top midfielders and hopes he remains injury-free.

Since Odegaard’s comeback, Arsenal has improved significantly, scoring eight goals against Nottingham Forest and Sporting Lisbon to boost morale. The players departed Estadio Jose Alvalade with a swagger on Tuesday night.

It would be foolish to refer to Arsenal as a one-man band, but one man’s importance should not be understated, as Odegaard’s cleverness and ingenuity, not to mention his leadership, appear to have relieved stress in those who had battled during his absence.

Saliba, who was instrumental in Arsenal’s 5-1 Champions League victory over Sporting, expressed his admiration for the Norwegian player and emphasized his importance to the team’s success.

‘Of course, it’s different when he’s here,’ Saliba explained. ‘He is one of the greatest players in the world. We are ecstatic to have him back. We’re better with him, and I hope he doesn’t get hurt again. We have to love playing with him. You can see we’re better with him.

This sparked a different debate. Nobody on the continent can do what Odegaard does when he is purring and using his left foot like a magic wand, and Saliba cracked a sly chuckle when asked where he would rate Arsenal’s eighth.

William Saliba stated that Martin Odegaard’s return from injury had bolstered morale in Arsenal’s camp.

Arsenal skipper Odegaard was key as Mikel Arteta’s team thrashed Sporting Lisbon.

Saliba believed Odegaard is one of the top midfielders in Europe, alongside De Bruyne and Rice.

When asked if he was the best midfielder in Europe, Odegaard responded, “Yeah… erm, top three!” I do not want to put too much pressure on him. I think top three. I adore this man. To be honest, every game surprises me because he does something unexpected on the field. He’s an extremely good player.

‘He is a top professional, therefore he worked hard on the practice field (to get fit again). I’m not surprised he came back like this, but it’s difficult to return to this level after not playing for four weeks.

So, who were the other two midfielders Saliba ranked alongside Odegaard?

‘Ah! (Kevin) De Bruyne,’ he responded, delicately adding after a pause. ‘Declan Rice!’

The light tone of the conversation reflected the mood of the group in general and Saliba, who was proud to have made his 100th appearance for Arsenal in Lisbon, feels there is an opportunity to truly kickstart a campaign that threatened to run aground before the international break.

Saturday’s trip to West Ham, with all the emotion that comes with it, will pose additional questions of Arsenal, especially following their own morale-boosting win.

in at Newcastle, but Arteta has his squad back to full health, with many of alternatives, and the France international believes they are ready to launch an attack.

‘It is considerably better,’ Saliba stated. ‘We had two or three weeks before the international break when things were pretty challenging. But now we’ve played two excellent games. It’s not enough; we have to keep continuing like this. There is a tough game at West Ham, but a win like this boosts our confidence.

Let’s keep going. Yes, we feel the momentum. The coach has always encouraged us to believe in ourselves since we are a very excellent team. We’ve had some hard moments, but we trust the good days will come. We will stick together and keep going like that.’