Arsenal FC emerged from their goalless draw with Atalanta, in the UEFA Champions League competition, unscathed from injury. That’s the good news. Now for the bad news, and it relates to club captain Martin Odegaard. The skipper suffered an ankle injury, while featuring for Norway, this past international break. While there had been conflicting reports about how long Odegaard could be out, initially, now we have a more concrete timeline.
He’ll be shelved for about eight weeks, so we won’t see him again until after the November international break.
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The only good news for Odegaard, is that his timeline for recovery overlaps two international windows, so that means he will miss less action on the club level. Mikel Arteta, as usual, kept reporters in the dark about injury specifics, but he did say this:
“We need to see the development in the next week or so, how the ankle reacts first of all and then the staff will give me an update on the timeframe and how long he’ll be out for.
“Not really [any fresh injuries]. Straight after the Atalanta match, we need to recover, sleep, eat well and everyone is looking forward to the match. We know what it means, we know what we’re fighting for and it’s a great opportunity for the team to show what we’re capable of.”
Arteta is not entirely 100% truthful there when he says there are no new injury concerns. Ukrainian left back Oleksandr Zinchenko is a major doubt here with a calf injury. But otherwise, the situation remains the same, with the longer-term absentees: Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kiernan Tierney and Mikel Merino.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.