How Soon Should Arsenal Expect Martin Odegaard?

Six weeks ago, Arsenal captain, Martin Odegaard suffered an ankle injury in Norway’s 2-1 win over Austria in the UEFA Nations League.

It was a very painful injury, as the midfielder looked in clear discomfort after being on the end of a nasty challenge from Christoph Baumgartner, and with the way he was ushered off the pitch by the Norway physios, it looked very grim. Shortly afterwards, Norway physio, Ola Sand, shared his opinions on the severity of the injury, after the MRI the scan,

“Such ankle injuries often take at least three weeks. Anything other than that is just a bonus and then it can take longer.

“What we have so far obtained from the MRI examination in London is that there is probably no fracture in the ankle.

“Arsenal are almost certain there is no breach, but this may still take some time. In the event of a fracture, we are talking about being out of action for six weeks plus.”

We are at the six week mark and are still without Odegaard. The Arsenal captain has missed games against Tottenham, Atalanta, Manchester City, Bolton, Leicester, Paris St. Germain, Southampton, Bournemouth and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Current status of Martin Odegaard’s injury

One month into his injury-enforced hiatus, Arsenal provided some encouraging updates on Odegaard, showing a video of the captain at London Colney, walking on an anti-gravity treadmill, and we felt very happy that he was going to lace up his boots and join his teammates. A couple of days later, fresh reports surfaced that Odegaard has suffered a setback, and was going to be out for a little longer.

This was very disappointing but we kept monitoring the situation.

Odegaard’s captain notes and quotes from the Norway team manager

Norway’s gaffer, Stale Solbakken, has stated that he is hoping to have Odegaard’s services for the national team in their next Nations League clashes against Slovenia and Kazakhstan next month.

“Everything indicates that things are going according to plan,”

“So it’s about the last steps when you have to train with opponents and in team training. It depends on how he responds to that, but we have a legitimate hope that he is ready.” – Stale Solbakken.

In the September international break, Norway drew 0-0 with Kazakhstan and beat Austria 2-1 (same game Odegaard got injured). In the October international break, Norway thrashed Slovenia 3-0 and were decimated by a revengeful Austria, losing 5-1. With two games to spare, Norway, Austria and Slovenia are locked on seven points, with Kazakhstan serving as the group’s whopping boys with one point.

So to a certain degree, you can understand why Solbakken wants his captain. However, I am not happy with this, as Odegaard should be allowed to recuperate well from his injury, and I firmly believe that Norway can get results against Slovenia and Kazakhstan without him.

Odegaard provided an update on his rehabilitation in the captain’s notes for the game against Shakhtar Donetsk,

“I’m feeling better and better each day, but when it’s an ankle injury you have ups and downs as well. Some days you feel really good, and then sometimes you can have a little reaction. But in general it’s getting better and I feel like I’m getting closer now.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work in the gym, and was on an anti-gravity treadmill recently, which is really good because it takes the weight off. Especially at the beginning that was really good, to be running again like that when you’ve been offloading the leg and not using it as much as normal. That was a good feeling, helping me get back to moving in a normal way, and being able to run after not being able to do that.”

Based on Odegaard’s comments and Solbakken’s quotes, it seems likely that Arsenal could have their captain back in early November, putting him in contention for the games against Internazionale or Chelsea, which is before the international break that Norway wants him for.

Arsenal has done okay in Odegaard’s absence, but it’s evident that he has been a huge miss for the club.