A new arrival in a strange land, Martin Zubimendi is already in the midst of the best goalscoring season of his career. With Wednesday’s decisive strike in Arsenal’s 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge, the Spaniard reached four for the season, hardly Erling Haaland numbers but not to be sniffed at for a nominal defensive midfielder.
It is a role, however, that looks increasingly nominal. The sense that there might be a lot more to come doesn’t just come from the smattering of DM-ish goals, smart strikes from space around the edge of the box. It is that Arsenal are building a platform to allow Zubimendi to do much more than dictate possession and smash a few in from range.
Mikel Arteta is intent on giving him more. “When we talk about Zubi, what else can he do?” He asked. “He can do whatever he wants. It’s a bit similar to Declan [Rice]’s qualities.
“We just have to keep unlocking that in his system, in his brain, because he’s so good at occupying different spaces, he’s carrying the ball, dribbling, winning duels, and he has a talent when he gets into the final third and into the box. He’s so composed. He sees the picture very clear.”
More even than that, he seems to see what Rice and Martin Odegaard see too. That much is apparent in one of the most impressive new wrinkles in Arsenal’s game over recent weeks, runs from Zubimendi that flip the midfield, a classic 4-3-3 inverted as the nominal sitter gets up close near to the striker.
It started innocuously enough in the Chelsea game. A goal kick and Arsenal line up in relatively standard fashion, their center backs split with both Zubimendi and Rice offering interior passing options. Odegaard, however, spots space behind Enzo Fernandez and rather fancies investigating that. It would appear that then Zubimendi spots his captain’s movement and concludes that there’ll be space vacated upfield for him to attack. It’s more of a steady creep out of build up than an explosive sprint but it is spotted by the rest of his team mates, who get in cycle.
EFL
Much of what follows happens off screen but as Zubimendi pushes up, Leandro Trossard moves into an interior space, something that might approximate the left eight spots Rice usually pops up in. That has the added advantage of enabling Viktor Gyokeres to drift into the left channel spots where he has looked so effective — and this was one of his most impressive performances in an Arsenal shirt to date — with Zubimendi to fill it.
A loose long ball from Gabriel, one that looked to be aimed in Zubimendi’s direction, threatened to kill the move but as ever Jurrien Timber was live to a potential breakdown. He flicked it to Trossard who immediately knew what to do with it. And that is how, seven passes after he’d been hovering around in the DM spots, Zubimendi finds himself chasing a ball in behind, a cry of hope rising up from the away end.
EFL
On this occasion nothing comes from the dart. Wesley Fofana has the recovery pace to put him off and Zubimendi’s footing is not sure on a poor Stamford Bridge field. Arsenal, however, are trying this often. Even earlier in the game, he had gone on a gallivant when Bukayo Saka dropped deep to receive a pass. Fernandez switched off and that opened up a channel down the right. It should have resulted in more but Zubimendi’s low pass from the right channel was a little behind Gyokeres, who did well to swivel out of danger and get a shot away.
Still, barely a game goes by of late where you don’t find yourself asking “how did Zubimendi end up there?” Not that this is necessarily reinventing the tactical wheel. Arsenal’s fluid midfield three often starts passages of play looking like a double pivot, in those circumstances it is perfectly normal for one of the two deep-lying midfielders to push up and join the forwards. What is intriguing is how quickly this team has concluded that its new signing can stretch his legs, driving up field in pursuit of spaces no one would expect him to fill.
This movement from Zubimendi also serves another purpose. Arsenal supporters have often been frustrated by Odegaard’s proclivity to drop deeper than they might expect from one of their finest ball strikers, a midfielder who has delivered multiple seasons of double digit scoring. This is not the forum to debate that — though it’s hard to shake the sense that he and his team would be even better if Odegaard were to stay higher more often — not least because Arsenal have mitigated the problems that come with that. If Odegaard doesn’t fill the space, Zubimendi does.
That might even prove to be a virtue made from a problem. It will be some time yet before defenders stop tracking a ball-striker of Odegaard’s quality. If he can drag them out of position then it opens gaps for Zubimendi, who might just find he is not being tracked all that diligently by the opposition’s more advanced midfielder.
Zubimendi has license to push on and Arsenal are finding him. Before the start of December he averaged 0.88 touches in the penalty area per 90 minutes, a shade below his career average. Since the start of last month that number has skyrocketed to 1.95. Those aren’t quite the same numbers that Rice is getting, let alone Odegaard, but that isn’t really the point. It is far more than anyone should reasonably expect from the nominal sitting midfielder. And look at where those touches are landing, the most dangerous areas around the penalty area. His ghosting into prime areas is Banquoian.
TruMedia
At no stage has this movement been quite as effective as for Zubimendi’s goal in the 4-1 win over Aston Villa to round out 2025. Initially Arsenal’s No.36 finds himself in an advanced position because he has pushed up to press Youri Tielemans off a risky pass infield by right back Lamine Bogarde. His pressure pays off but what stands out most is how Zubimendi reacts when the ball lands with Odegaard.
He doesn’t need to hesitate, to assess his options or track back. He just goes. For a second Tielemans considers following him having already concluded that Viktor Gyokeres will have to be someone else’s problem. Ultimately the Belgian sees Odegaard driving in his direction and naturally concludes that that is the biggest danger. He can’t stop it though, the Arsenal skipper driving a pass between the Villa center backs for Zubimendi to poke home.
How many more goals might we see like that? Maybe not a lot. Before too long teams could just adjust to take Zubimendi’s runs into the frontline away from Arsenal. Perhaps when Odegaard drops the defensive assignments switch or maybe the opposition are just prepared to live with the risk posed by an opponent with 18 career goals. If Arteta wants to drop back his best attacking midfielder to push on his sitter, that sounds like something a few coaches might just allow him to do.
It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. What does is that Zubimendi, Odegaard and Rice have started just nine games together and already they are playing like they have been together for years, one going and the other sitting in a fashion that any England fan can attest usually makes more sense in theory than in practice. For now Odegaard and Zubimendi are interchanging in such a way as to get the latter runs into the box. If and when teams take that away, it would be fair to assume that Arsenal will alight on something else.
That in itself is a particular credit to Zubimendi. It is only five months ago that he began life playing probably the most difficult position in football in the most difficult league in the sport. Already he has so mastered it that fresh ways must be found for the new arrival to test himself. Imagine what damage he might cause when he has well and truly settled into the strange world of the Premier League.
