Mikel Arteta was delighted to mark his 300th match in charge of Arsenal with a 2-0 home win over West Ham, but revealed Martin Odegaard is “not positive” about his latest injury problem.
Arsenal captain Odegaard has endured an injury-hit campaign and suffered another setback on Saturday when he was forced off after 30 minutes with a left knee issue.
It was the third consecutive Premier League home match in which Odegaard has been replaced before half-time and despite goals by Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka either side of the break, Arteta cut a downbeat figure when quizzed on the Norwegian’s fitness.
“I think he had a clash, knee-to-knee and immediately he was uncomfortable. I just spoke to him and he is not positive about it,” Arteta revealed.
“He has got a brace on. We will have to wait from the doctors but we have been very unlucky with that.
“Yeah we haven’t had him since the start for one reason or another. The shoulder twice and then this injury.
“We have to wait and see the extent of the injury. We will have to find solutions but obviously is our captain and is a player that gives us a completely different dimension with things that he can do, especially in the attack.
“Let’s wait and hopefully it is not that bad.”
Odegaard is not Arsenal’s only injury concern with Rice substituted in the 79th minute at his own request with a back issue before England’s fixtures with Wales and Latvia this month.
“Well, he’s not alright because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame,” Arteta explained.
“He had pain in his back and he could not carry on, which is something very unusual for Declan, so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is.”
