Norway make Martin Odegaard injury announcement as Arsenal injury extent emerges

Norway have provided a Martin Odegaard update after Arsenal confirmed their captain would be staying put in north London during the October international break. The Gunners midfielder sustained a knee knock during Saturday's victory over West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium.

The 26-year-old had made consecutive starts for the first time in six weeks this past Saturday following a shoulder complaint that had troubled him during the early stages of the season. Just shy of 30 minutes into the clash with West Ham United, Odegaard suffered a hefty blow to his knee.

He tried to shake off the problem but was substituted by Martin Zubimendi shortly afterwards, with Arteta delivering a worrying update in his post-match press conference.

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"I think he [Odegaard] had a clash knee-to-knee, and immediately he was uncomfortable," the Arsenal manager said after the game.

"I just spoke to him, he's not positive about it, he's got a brace on, we'll have to wait and see from the doctors, but we haven't been very lucky with that either."

Arsenal have subsequently confirmed in a statement that he will be staying in north London and "will continue to be assessed" during the international break after suffering a "medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee".

A minor MCL injury typically requires 1-3 weeks of recovery whilst a moderate issue needs approximately a month and a serious blow could result in potentially over six weeks of rehabilitation.

Arteta will be praying it isn't either of the latter two scenarios, considering the fixture pile-up approaching over the coming months. Several of those games will be crucial to Arsenal's campaign, but the two matches he would have featured in for Norway against Israel and New Zealand are not particularly significant.

Their World Cup qualification bid has progressed brilliantly so far, with full points collected. Nevertheless, given his massive appeal in his homeland, Norwegian officials have expressed regret over his absence whilst also offering additional details about his injury.

"We are of course sorry for this on our own behalf and on Martin's behalf," Norway manager Stale Solbakken has been quoted as saying in a statement.

"Fortunately, the clarification regarding this comes so early, gives us plenty of time to prepare those who will play the match on Saturday."

National team doctor Ola Sand added: "The injury means that he will not be ready to play for this training camp. We are in close contact with the medical support team at Arsenal, who will be responsible for the treatment going forward."

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