- Odegaard has not played since the international break after sustaining the injury
- In Sunday’s matchday program he gave an update on his recovery
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Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has provided an injury update as he continues to work on his recovery from ankle ligament damage.
The midfielder limped off in the second half of his country’s 2-1 win over Austria in the Nations League during the last international break in worrying signs for the Gunners supporters and has not played since.
Scans showed Odegaard suffered ‘significant’ ligament damage and would be out for an extended period.
The club remained coy in giving a timeline for his return, but Odegaard has given supporters positive news.
Commenting on this weekend’s Arsenal fixture ahead of Sunday’s win over Southampton, Odegaard said: ‘I just wanted to start with the latest news on my injury and rehabilitation. I’ve made really good progress this past week.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has provided an update on his return from an ankle injury
‘I’m getting better every day and I feel like I’m doing well. When you feel like things are moving forward, it gives you the motivation to do more and work harder.
‘Today is our last match before a new international break, so that also gives me some more time to work on the rehabilitation.
‘Hopefully it won’t be long; I think we’ll know more once I step onto the training pitches and we’ll see how my ankle responds.
“Currently things are going well and looking better than we thought, but we still have to take each day as it comes.”
Arsenal have performed well in the absence of their captain with five wins and two draws in the seven games he has missed.
Sunday’s 3-1 win over Saints saw them go into the international break just one point behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The visiting team surprisingly took the lead in the second half, but the Gunners hit back with goals from Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
Odegaard suffered ankle ligament damage last month during his international match with Norway
Manager Mikel Arteta was clearly very happy with his team’s performance after the match.
He said: ‘The first half I thought it was exceptional. The amount of dominance we had in the areas we played in, the amount of situations and chances we created in open play and set pieces, our counter-press worked really well there. It’s unbelievable that we didn’t score a goal.
“Then we started the second half, we were a bit sloppy, especially the first 5-10 minutes with the ball and then the game opened up a bit.
“The chance they had scored the goal, and again we threw away everything we did in the first half. It was a completely new game in a very difficult context and the team responded incredibly well and with a lot of composure; great faith, very good clarity in what we had to do. The crowd was exceptional, the subs were exceptional and we won again.”