Mikel Arteta provides update on injured Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard as he reveals playmaker has suffered ‘quite significant’ ankle ligament damage
- Martin Odegaard suffered an ankle injury during the international match for Norway
- Arsenal fans were hoping he would be back within a few weeks
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Martin Odegaard has suffered “serious” ankle ligament damage and will be out “for a while”, Mikel Arteta announced on Wednesday.
The development is a major setback for Arsenal ahead of their Premier League clash against Manchester City on Sunday.
This is the result of injuries to Mikel Merino, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney, who will also miss the match.
Captain Odegaard injured his ankle during an international match for Norway last Monday and was seen boarding a plane back to London on crutches.
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League opener against Atalanta on Thursday night, Arteta said: ‘After everything was scanned, it turned out he had some damage, mainly to one of the ligaments in his ankle.
Mikel Arteta gave an update on Martin Odegaard’s injury during Wednesday’s pre-match press conference
Arteta revealed that the damage to Odegaard’s ankle is more serious than initially thought
“We’re going to miss him. I don’t want to (give a timeline) because I’m not a doctor, but yeah, it’s something very important, so we’re going to miss him for a while.
‘Hopefully not months, but let’s see. He’s our captain, he’s without a doubt one of our greatest players.
“He is one of the most consistent players in the last two or three seasons. Our identity is very much related to his way of playing and his way of behaving. We have to deal with that.
‘That’s also a great test for the team, to see to what extent we’re able to maybe show a different face and the fact that we have different players and different options that can still be very effective.’
Arteta’s men performed superbly in the absence of their captain and suspended Declan Rice last weekend, leaving the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points.
Defender Gabriel Magalhaes scored the only goal of the game and Odegaard will miss another important match on Sunday when his side take on Man City at the Etihad Stadium.
City play Internazionale at home on Wednesday night, while the Gunners have one day less to recover from a testing trip to Italy.
Odegaard limped away with the problem during Norway’s match against Austria last week
“Is that a disadvantage? Hopefully not,” Arteta said. “Hopefully we have that much energy from what happened on Sunday. It was great. We look at the positives.”
Bukayo Saka has left Tottenham Hotspur, but Arteta had better news for the England forward.
“Yes, he was able to train today, he completed most of the session and still he is available,” he said.
