Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is anticipated to be sidelined until mid-November on account of the knee injury he’s battling.
The Norwegian has been blighted by fitness issues to this point this season, with shoulder problems followed by this current knee injury.
The 26-year-old needed to be substituted in the primary half of Arsenal’s win over West Ham on October 4 and it was unclear how long he was more likely to be out for.
The BBC now reports that Odegaard won’t be back until after the November international break, which suggests a possible return within the north London derby against Tottenham on November 23.
It’s a blow for Mikel Arteta, who’s facing a really busy schedule over the subsequent month across a variety of competitions.
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After the present international break, the Gunners are back into Premier League motion on Saturday in a London derby at Fulham.
Then come outings within the Champions League, Premier League and Carabao Cup before the tip of October.
Arsenal games Martin Odegaard is anticipated to miss
Sat Oct 18: Fulham (a) Premier League
Tue Oct 21: Atletico Madrid (h) Champions League
Sun Oct 26: Crystal Palace (h) Premier League
Wed Oct 29: Brighton (h) Carabao Cup
Sat Nov 01: Burnley (a) Premier League
Tue Nov 04: Slavia Prague (a) Champions League
Sat Nov 08: Sunderland (a) Premier League
Arsenal are coping with quite a few injuries in the intervening time, with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke all out of motion with knee problems.
Havertz and Madueke are expected back at the same time to Odegaard, while Jesus is unlikely to return from his long-term issue this 12 months.
Nevertheless, their impressive spending in the summertime means Arteta’s squad continues to be well-stocked, despite the 4 injuries to creative, attack-minded players.
The Gunners began the 2-0 win over West Ham with a midfield three of Odegaard, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze, behind Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard.
They’ve the squad depth to bring off the bench Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Ethan Nwaneri.
Arteta can be frustrated to lose Odegaard again, though, having sung his praises after a powerful performance against Olympiacos earlier this month.
Arteta said of his captain after the 2-0 victory within the Champions League: ‘He’s got all of the licence on this planet to go forward, Martin, and to play with that freedom, and to play with that level of threat especially, not only with the passes, but the way in which he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs and arriving in really dangerous areas.
‘I feel he put three people through today to attain a goal. He must have scored a goal as well.
‘So, great to have him back. He played some excellent minutes in Newcastle to assist us to win the sport, and I feel today he was phenomenal.
‘I feel that creativity part is his nature. It doesn’t bring any pressure to him since it’s his best ability to generate things that not numerous players can do. He has total freedom from my side to do and to explore and to take risks and to feel the movement and where he must generate those spaces. I feel he’s actually done that within the last two games.’
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