Mikel Arteta confirmed that the injury suffered by the Norwegian during the international break will keep him out of action for some time.
Mikel Arteta has confirmed the worst fears regarding Martin Ødegaard, who picked up an ankle injury during the recent international break.
The Norway captain limped out of the UEFA Nations League group against Austria on 67 minutes. At first, it was thought that Ødegaard had suffered a sprain but tests have revealed more worrying damage as Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta confirmed today, ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League opener against Atalanta.
Arsenal without their captain for two months
“The latest scans showed that he has some damage, especially in one of the ankle ligaments. It is quite significant. We will lose Martin Ødegaard for a while,” Arteta told reporters. It means that, the Gunners will be without their captain for the next two months of competition. Ødegaard is not expected to be back on the pitch until November, following the final international break of the year.
Arteta loses one of his key players for a sizable chunk of the campaign and with several key games coming up. Ødegaard will miss crucial games against the team’s principal Premier League rivals - starting with this weekend’s trip to City, the defending champions, as well as a tough, three-game run in which Arsenal must face Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.
This season, Ødegaard started the first three league games of the campaign, completing the first two, against Wolves and Aston Villa. He was taken off in the Week 3 meeting with Brighton, replaced by Gabriel Martinelli on 74 minutes as a tactical switch.
He has not had enough time to get his stats up and running - in the three games he has played at club level and both of the international games with Norway (against Kazakhstan and Austria), he has registered no goals and no assists despite his teams being unbeaten in all five of those games.