Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has been out injured since the international break in September.
The Gunners have had several issues already this season. The likes of Mikel Merino, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu among others have all had one problem or another since the start of the campaign.
The biggest loss, however, has to be Odegaard, who suffered an ankle injury while playing for Norway against Austria in September.
There was hope that the Gunners skipper would be back by now, but that hasn’t happened yet for one particular reason.
Arsenal’s stance on Martin Odegaard’s injury
Arsenal have done well despite not having Odegaard in their side since the third game of the season.
The Gunners are still unbeaten in all competitions and are just a point off the top of the Premier League table at the moment.
That is a very good position to be in, but unfortunately for them, Odegaard is still not ready to return from his injury and play a part.
Chris Wheatley has had his say on the Arsenal captain’s injury on ShotsTV, and he has dismissed suggestions that Odegaard has suffered a setback.
The journalist has revealed that the midfielder is doing well behind the scenes and is working his way back to full fitness, but he is not ready yet.
The reason why Odegaard is not back by now is because Arsenal are being very careful with his recovery. They want his ankle to heal completely and eliminate any risk of reoccurrence once he’s back.
Wheatley said: “With Martin Odegaard, there were some reports on social media that he could be out for a lot longer than expected – December was what some anonymous accounts were suggesting. It makes everyone completely lose it on social media.
“But, of course, that’s not what we’re expecting. Martin Odegaard is doing well with his rehabilitation and we’re expecting him to be back at least in around November.
“A lot of people were expecting him, including myself, to be back maybe a bit sooner, but Arsenal are managing it very carefully. They don’t want him to suffer any reoccurrence of the injury.
“It does look like Odegaard will be back fairly soon, in the next few weeks. He will need to come back into training and then build up his match sharpness. December, as some people were saying, is not what is expected.”
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The games Odegaard will miss in October
We don’t know when Odegaard will return in November, but Wheatley’s update confirms that the Arsenal captain will not be back in October.
That means he will miss four games in all competitions.
The first of those is against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday. Arsenal then face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League before hosting Liverpool. The last game in October for the Gunners is against Preston in the EFL Cup.
We really wanted Odegaard to be fit for the Liverpool game, but Arsenal have enough firepower to get the job done without him.
Hopefully, he will be fit and ready to go from the first day of November.
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