'Surprised': Gary Lineker now shares what shocked him about Martin Odegaard in Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

Martin Odegaard made his first Premier League appearance since August on Sunday as Arsenal drew 1-1 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Gunners embarked on seven Premier League games without their captain after he suffered an ankle ligament injury while playing for Norway back in September – losing two and drawing two as Mikel Arteta struggled to cope without the Norwegian.

That poor run of results has left Arsenal fourth in the Premier League.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
3	ChelseaChelsea	11	5	4	2	21	13	8	19
4	ArsenalArsenal	11	5	4	2	18	12	6	19

However, the £30m man’s return on Sunday saw the Gunners produce a much better performance, dominating Chelsea in a match Arsenal really ought to have won given the chances they created.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, Gary Lineker has now shared what surprised him about Martin Odegaard during the 1-1 draw.

Gary Lineker cannot believe Martin Odegaard played the whole 90 minutes

After so many weeks on the sidelines, we would have expected Arteta to ease his No.8 back into action.

However, the Spaniard opted to field Odegaard – who Ray Parlour likens to Dennis Bergkamp – for the entire game against Chelsea, which shocked Lineker.

The BBC Match of the Day host said: “Real bonus for them, Odegaard coming back, although I was surprised he played the whole game, which is a testament to his match fitness, because it is difficult, isn’t it, when you come back from being out for quite a long time.”

Impressively, the 25-year-old did not only manage to last the distance in west London, but he also made a strong impact on the game, providing the assist for Gabriel Martinelli’s goal.

How Arsenal No.8 performed against Chelsea

Aside from his assist, Odegaard, who Paul Scholes admires, delivered an all-round superb display against the Blues, showing exactly why many consider him to be a special talent.

As shown by SofaScore, the man born in Drammen recorded a pass success rate of 92% at Stamford Bridge, completing 35 of his attempted 38 passes while taking 52 touches of the ball.

Four of those 35 passes went down as key passes – creating two ‘big chances’ – while Odegaard also made two successful tackles on a day where it looked like he had never been away at all.

Hopefully, Arteta can keep his captain fit, as he is absolutely pivotal to how Arsenal want to play.