Mikel Arteta has yet another injury concern ahead of the north London derby after Martin Odegaard was forced off during this evening’s Nations League clash between Norway and Austria.
The Arsenal captain was fouled by Christoph Baumgartner in the 64th minute and required treatment on his ankle before limping off with the help of medical staff. It didn’t look pretty.
Odegaard Injury pic.twitter.com/yNozhH31PK
— ArsenalFanatic (@ArsenalFanatiq) September 9, 2024
Odegaard was an injury doubt for his country coming into the Interlull after taking a heavy blow in the first half of Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton. While he stayed on the pitch until the latter stages, he was clearly in a lot of pain when he returned to the bench.
The midfielder missed Norway’s first training session last week but recovered in time to play the full 90 minutes of a 0-0 draw with Kazakhstan.
That he was selected to play again is obviously Norway’s prerogative but you do wonder whether Arsenal might have been a little cleverer regarding the player’s availability, especially with a trio of difficult away games in the space of seven days.
Martin Odegaard subbed off with an ankle injury… didn’t look good at all. #NORAUT
— Raphael Honigstein💙 (@honigstein) September 9, 2024
The Gunners are already reeling from the loss of Mikel Merino to a shoulder injury and are having to assess Riccardo Calafiori’s calf after the Italian picked up a problem during last Friday’s 3-1 win over France.
Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus are the other injury concerns. The Japan international missed the entirety of pre-season with a knee problem while the Brazilian picked up a groin injury in training.
Ødegaard off with an nasty injury. Screaming in pain. Doesn't look good at all.
Hate internationals with a passion 🤬🤬pic.twitter.com/SfRgnRoEAn
— 🇳🇴 kimmoFC (@kimmoFC) September 9, 2024
Fucking hell, it gets worse.
If Ethan gets all his homework done by Friday night, his mum says he can play.
But then again, when he asked “are we nearly there yet?” she said “almost” when, in fact, they were still a good two hours from lego land.
So I’m not convinced she can be trusted.
And Haland remain unscathed…..
Robots don’t get injured
If it bleeds, we can kill it.
I saw the match. He barely ran, was walking mostly.
He doesn’t go to school, he’s a professional footballer.
Next you’ll be telling me he’s never been to lego land…
but he was 2 hours away though. That much we know
O RLY?
LOL.
Comedy gold, Johnny.
I appreciate that the Internet does not ‘do’ ‘sarcasm off’, but I am not being sarcastic.
I wish there was a way to filter all comments so I could just read yours (or at least yours first). It would cheer me up every single day (especially when we get reports of yet more nasty injuries, like this).
‘Most voted’ is an option but it does not always work, since not everyone gets the humour all of the time.
In case it was not clear, I am in love and want your children.
I believe Johnny 4 hats is James
This one really did look bad. His ankle turned completely under with his weight on it. Probably fractured. It’ll be months before we see him again playing at peak fitness like he was. Arsenal can cope but it’s a huge loss. Odegaard has been a pillar of consistency at that position for what seems like ages. The most difficult thing about this is that he offered solutions all over the pitch when we build out of the back, and nobody else can replace that. My personal favorite: Bukayo saka moves inside and gets the keys, takes the next step in… Read more »
The Norway physio sounded reasonably upbeat – this is taken from the BBC
“We know it was an ankle sprain. With luck it can turn out OK, if the ligaments aren’t torn, but I’m not really sure [Arsenal boss Mikel] Arteta will call me tonight to praise me.”
Team doctor Ola Sand, added: “He’s got a small ankle sprain. We will see, maybe we use ultrasound to look at it. If we are unsure, there will be an MRI tomorrow.”
Fingers crossed it is not as bad as it looked
Just saw those quotes too but it doesn’t match the pictures and the player’s reaction. Just from personal experience I can tell you I haven’t sceamed with the veins popping out of my neck for a grade 1 sprain. I hope I’m wrong.
Yeah I was not expecting good news given how it looked – I’m still pretty dubious that it’s only a sprain – it’s pretty unusual for the physio/doctor to give a quote on an injury so soon after a game, so I hope that’s a good sign (it’s the hope that kills us in the end)
Norway doctors downplaying their fuck up, Martin was already carrying a knock and shouldn’t have been expected to play two games. Bastards.
Calafiori! Really?! What?
In a pinch, sure! Wouldn’t be one of my top 3-4 choices but he’s such a good all around player he could do a job in midfield, absolutely.
This is showing a weakness of the goal-sharing system. Ode not there to create or score himself. Just hope Saka doesn’t get injured in training. Martinelli back on the wing if Tross replaces Ode.
we really need to have a very good “fox in the box” type striker in the team to compensate for these situations.
This is beginning to look like a reversion to mean by the ol’ Lady Luck. I’m having severe PTSD right now
F!#$!.
Things were looking quite promising going into the season. Now we’re facing hard run of matches with key players missing. And Odegaard is one of the ones we have the least amount of cover for.
It’s sad, bruh. Last season, we started slowly and only picked up a head of steam after the Jan break. If only we had fared better in a couple of games in the first half of the season, who knows what would have happened? Everything has looked great at the start of this one, we are playing great despite a few of our guys not even up to speed yet… only to start getting handicapped by refs and now injuries! There are no margin for errors against those perennial cheats. And if Odegaard is unavailable against Spuds and Mac115ter Cheaty,… Read more »
It’s man city. Don’t do Donald Trump nicknames please
Saka, Rice, Havertz and Nwaneri can all do it. The biggest problem is the NLD because of Rice’s suspension. To compensate I bet Mikel will go 4-2-4 with TP and Jorginho in the middle. With less mobility centrally we drop a little deeper and use Martinelli and Havertz on the break. Simple.
Sound terrifying.
The summer transfer business is looking a bit shaky now, we’re thin in quality and experience in midfield and up top.
I still expect us to beat sp*rs cause they are shit, but 115fc will be another question.
We aren’t thin in quality or experience. We’ve had rotten luck with injuries to players in the same department. No club can or should plan to have it’s entire first choice midfield out injured or suspended.
I guess we’ll see, won’t we! Ultimately we’re down on numbers from last season and are now very reliant on a Ghanaian’s hamstrings and a 17 year old to win us crucial games in order to win the league. I didn’t mind the Sterling signing at all, but felt there was clear space for another signing as I wasn’t comfortable counting on Jesus and our Ghanaian with their fitness record. We were very lucky last season with injuries which might have led to a false sense of security.
Who knows, they might pull through.I’m hoping for the best.
Good thing we have ESR and Vieira as cover!
Tbf we have Nwaneri who I’m more hopeful of being productive than either of those two in that position. But that a 17 year old might be our only currently fit natural center midfielder is not ideal at all.
Trossard.
Not in the Belgian squad tonight. Wonder why. 🫣
Overreacting to not getting enough minutes on the pitch. Hope same will not happen at Arsenal.
Fabregas debuted as a 17-years-old teenager back in 2003 to replace the almighty Patrick Vieira, and the rest is history, don’t see why Ethan cannot replicate that history
Totally agree. What a moment for the lad to get his first start. He is ready, and I say that because Viera and ESR moves were sanctioned. Gonna be a very tough w/e without our entire starting CM’s but we have enough. I believe! COYG!!!!!!!!
Sterling is cover:
Martinelli Trossard Sterling
Havertz Partey Saka
Timber Gab Saliba White
Saka can also play the odegaard role. Sterling has experience and coaching to play those rotations in attack.
I’d like to see starting
Trossard Havertz Sterling
Nwaneri Saka
Partey
Timber Gabriel Saliba White
Raya White Saliba (Big)Gabriel Timber Partey Havertz Zinchenko Saka Trossard Jesus If Jesus can play, I’d absolutely have him in as he will add critical technical and creativity qualities we’ll drop a bit without Marty. Zinny, IMO, is the best option we have to replace Marty and I think he’ll thrive in the role. Sad that so many don’t even want to see it or consider it because they just have their hate on for Zinny. He’s creative, hard-working (on and off the ball), and a tactical genius; those are attributes he shares with Odegaard. Undoubtedly Marty is a better… Read more »
If you want to replace Odegaard, find a player who knits the buildup, can give a final ball, and leads the press with intelligence and massive stamina. ESR has none of those things. Vieira has one of them. Havertz and Rice both have two of them (not the same ones) and I suspect they will be the leading candidates.
Zinchenko should be Odegaard’s replacement. Easily or second most creative player, and defensive issues aren’t an issue at #10.
Esr could give a final ball and so can Odegaard. Not sure anyone else in our team can except Saka. Don’t know about Nwaneri here’s hoping.
ESR has many gifts. The final ball is not one of them. He’s 26th %tile for expected assists. He is actually a polar opposite of Odegaard in most ways. This player is a taker, he gets on the end of things, times his arrival in the box. That’s his superpower and that’s why he looks great for Fulham.
Zinkchenko – 88th%ile for shot creation actions, 68th%ile for xAG, 97th%ile for pass completion%, 99th%ile for progressive passes, 59th%ile for progressive carries.
(Add to that stats that will surprise many: 78th%ile, 75th%ile, 85%ile for tackles, interceptions, and aerial duels won, respectively; the former two are great for the high press),
IMO Zinchenko is easily our best Odegaard replacement of anyone in the squad. We’d be absolutely insane to move Saka from RW to #10.
Why insane? You want your best players in the position where they can most impact the game, and that’s always central. It’s his destiny.
Re: Zinchenko, I agree in terms of profile. Where they differ is temperament. People call Haaland a robot, but our captain is a machine in his own right. Zinny is much more… human. Not as consistently intense in his concentration/determination, and still gives up a lot of size/power. I think I’d prefer Rice or Havertz over him to be honest.
Palmer, Foden, and a few other players all withdrew from their squads… He picked up a niggle against Brighton, why did we not preach caution?
This is making me a lot more pissed than it should… especially with Rice suspended and Part-ey putting up another stinker for Ghana today (he is clearly declining now.)
To be fair to MØ, he and Norway had a full summer off, and he is probably keen to do his bit to make sure Norway reach the next tournament. This one feels like bad luck.
But I take your point with regards to others. I wish everyone was like Ben White
💯 mate spot on.
We’re honestly so dependent on Partey’s fitness right now it isn’t even funny.
We’re honestly so dependent on the Ghanaian captain’s fitness right now it isn’t even funny.
Saka & Rice both playing again tonight, Arteta obviously hasn’t got much influence with Carsley – ridiculous. Fergie would have withdrawn these players.
The serious teams get their players removed from international duty with fake injuries and its long overdue that we start doing the same too.
I think the player gets a say there too and I think Martin has been super motivated to try and achieve something with Norway. Having said that, this sucks balls and fuck everyone everywhere I hate the world may the fabric of reality itself be ripped apart into shreds and those shreds be fed into a pool of acid.
What is he going to achieve with Norway? Giggs has more domestic medals than any other British player but only played for Wales 64 times because he knew where the priority should be.
Bit of dislike to this post but it’s just about the best analogy you have of a world class player, captain of his country, country having no chance of doing anything significant and playing a fraction of the games he could have, especially when you consider the amount of club appearances. You might say the difference between the two player’s characters couldn’t be further away, which would be true. But I don’t think the Welsh fans ever really blamed Giggs, they knew Ferguson was the driver and hated him for it. Am I ok with Norwegian fans hating Arteta… I… Read more »
I agree and I think any objective person would. But if it’s your country you can’t objective so I can empathise with him too.
This understated comment has made me feel less physically sick this morning. Thanks, Ebo!
FFS!
This just makes the decision to loan out Vieira worse. Even if he wasn’t going to play, we honestly planned to give Odegaard no rest at all? We can’t go into a season really hoping nobody gets injured.
I would play Jesus there.
If he’s fit.
Zinchenco to the rescue.
Viera’s shite mate.
Let’s get Jack back in training – we’re gonna need him. We used up all our injury luck last season!
I’m sure Jack “Mr. Durable” Wilshere would certainly avoid this injury curse…
What can I say…
This is on Ordegaard himself he barely recovered from the challenge he suffered goes on to think he can play two 90 minute games
Captain saying: You know what, I am not fit enough to play?
Blimey I hate that boring, useless, rubbish international football
Meaningless friendlies replaced by meaningless internationals.
There’s enough bad injury news this season for one of those Hitler rant videos.
*Points at map of Seven Sisters Road*
“It’s fine, we have Merino and Odegaard to spearhead the midfield.”
“Mein Furher, Merino is out for two months in a freak training accident and Odegaard has bust his ankle in a pointless friendly.”
“@&**%#!!!…”
This video trend needs reviving
Maybe it’s time for Nwaneri to be ‘born’.
I had a nagging feeling that we were going to lose Odegard at some point this season. For some reason, he’s not looked fresh since the season started.
It’s a big stage for Nwaneri, but who knows. Diamonds are made under extreme pressure.
Away at the toilet bowl, with fifty thousand shouting “kick his head in” is not an easy birth.
No births are easy. We are all received into this world screaming and shitting. Can’t think of a better place for Nwaneri to shit his first shit than the toilet bowl
If you’re good enuf, you’re old enuf (AW)
Wasn’t it Conan himself was born on the battlefield. He went on to crush his enemies, see them driven before him, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
Nwaneri should be fine.
1.) No need to panic.
2 This definitely weakens us, but we can still put out a more-than-competitive XI
c. Panic is not healthy
cbis. think I saw something in the PL rules about an emergency loan captain
5. NO NEED TO PANIC
That’s there’s no literal need to panic is almost definitely true. But there’s definitely a compulsion to panic, and I’m succumbing to that compulsion.
I think our season might be over 🫨 <— me panicking
If you panic, then I’ll panic. Then where would we be? Current hopium is that him and Calafiori have been instructed to exaggerate any contact to ensure limited interlull minutes.
Could we sign free agent Adrien Rabiot for a season?
We don’t have the right to sign him otherwise it’s got to be done today.
Free agents can be signed any time, I believe – but who wants to deal with the pit bull mother?
Toxic, that’s why nobody wants him. No thanks.
Oh, balls.
The fucking Kavanaugh curse. Even though only dropped 2 points it feels more and more like a nightmare start that could get worse with so many tough games coming.
Smith Row looking good right now. Think we can snag him in a transfer window? 😅
Should never have sold him.
Too true mate. And now the curse of ESR is has started…
Nasty injury for Martin,gis ankle joint almpst 90 degrees.A miracle if he can play Sp*rs. With him ,Rice and Merino out,whom to play midfield ? Partey and Jorghino ,two old men ?
Man this is obviously horrible news but somehow I’m hopeful he’ll somehow be ready for us come the weekend! #belief (naive? haha)
Not a chance. Bad ankle sprain/ ligament strain, at least three weeks. And that’s being positive.
Could be his Achilles after watching that replay. Man I hate international football with a passion. This year’s Euros was almost unwatchable.
World Cup with 48 teams will be just as bad….
I think the plans are for 64 team WC in 2030 and a 72 team Champions League and a year round works club championship played every Monday evening in Saudia Arabia.
I think, to win a title you need a good team, good management and a big slice of luck with injuries.
Get the feeling it’s not going to be our season.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Good players win titles not managers. We’ve got a lot of good players.
Very true. Unless you can buy your own luck in the form of an infinite squad and influence. We’re pressuring ourselves into a title race with a Death Star. Probably better to go one game at a time and see where we are in Jan – footballistically and legally.
I’m hoping he recovers soon and completely. I’m not optimistic he’ll be in the line up come Sunday but we have to wait and see. Season is long and we need him in the long run. I’d rather risk it without him to grind out a result at spuds than risk him for the game knowing spuds will target him. A little 3-4-2-1 might be in the cards.
Until injuries outweigh the profit fifa makes, we are going to continue to see this happening with this there’s more where these peasants came from slavery era attitude, Those sitting up there in those towers need to be held accountable.
The timing of these internationals are ridiculous. Even if you made a world players federation with data showing at risk players. Things would be just get ingnored because there is a profit to be made.
Why Odegaard and not Haaland?
Just for my fantasy team spending!
Arteta going to have Pep’s hair style if we get many more injuries.
3 games in and we’re cooked. Major Injuries, poor transfer window and corrupt refereeing. Meh. Won’t be bothering to watch the match at the toilet bowl.
lol
Man up
Pretty sure you shouldn’t tell people to ‘man up’ any more. Tell you what, I will do if you promise to not utter a word of complaint after the spuds (and the next 3/4+ teams we play) inevitably capitalise on the fact we have a 17 year old, no natural number 8 and a declining Partey in our Midfield next weekend (assuming he makes it through the break unscathed) with no credible options off the bench. Not a single whinge when the referee helps them on their way with a dodgy penalty or a controversial sending off. Zero grumbles when… Read more »
Man up
What do you guys think? Can Ethan handle the Spurs midfield? i haven’t seen them play.
Looks like a major ligament tear.
If he’s out for any length of time, and let’s hope he’s not, the new season goal should be to qualify for CL and blood as many of the youngsters as we can; we aren’t winning the league with MØ on the bench for a few weeks, unfortunately, so give Saka and Saliba loads of rest, and so on.
Yes, let’s just throw in the towel after 3 games and a couple of injuries. Burn it all. ARTETA OUT! KROENKE OUT!!! AAAAAAHHHHH
Ffs…
Let’s just hope his ankle recovers well and he’s lucky enough that it’s a quici recovery. The rest will sort itself out within the team.
Not what I said at all. No criticism of Arteta or Kroenkes, no feeling that we need to blow up or burn down the squad. Not sure how you got “down tools” from “qualify for Champions League.” But if Odegaard, for whom we have no real backup, is out for months, why put all the miles on already overplayed stars like Saka? Why let them get kicked to death to finish 2nd in the league instead of 4th and in the Why not take the opportunity to see what the younger players who featured on the U.S. tour can really… Read more »
“instead of 4th and in the CL?”
You might have a point. Forget winning the league but ensure top 4 and go for the cups when hopefully everyone’s fit after Christmas.
It’s an absurd point. We are 3 games in and you are Ruling out becoming champions. shame on these thoughts!!!!
I actually questioned this exact senario and asked who will replace him. Hope Arteta has a plan B now.
We are entering peak we get era
Peak wenger *
I’m limping on both legs just from watching that vid… Hope it’s nothing big and he’s back on grass quickly.
Ffs. This is a joke now. Meaningless bullshit nations league nonsense no less. Why do we even let them go to these games…unbelievable.
Bad news about the captain. Horrible feeling Saka is next – please just withdraw him from the England squad now!?
After this terrible transfer window that left our squad thinner and weaker, we are already in big trouble. Even if Nwaneri is a revelation, Partey is done, already becoming our Casemiro and Jorginho is decent cover but surely past his prime. Our attack is also very thin, one injury away from having no cover. How on earth you can compete with City and Real Madrid when your big name signing of the window is a player on loan past his prime that nobody else wanted? Our realistic target should be third at best this season and this is on Edu… Read more »
Breathe in……breathe out…… Breathe in….
Nonsense. The players sold never got picked anyway. It was crucial business to move forward.
A striker signing wouldn’t fix the pickle we are in at the moment with out 3 starting CM’s unavailable for the NLD.
Ø is obviously a massive massive loss, that no club can comfortably replace, he is that good. But no point crying for Edu’s head.
Time for a super mik reshuffle or a certain 17yr old hale ender.
Completely agree. Nobody else will though. Still, I am sure that if (when) your perfectly reasonable and realistic prophecy comes true, people will be beating their fists and searching for an explanation.
It’s funny how Foden (virus), Walker (fitness?), Stones (bench!) got away with not playing for England. It’s almost like Pep has advised his players to focus on club football instead of pointless internationals. Maybe we should be doing the same?
Ake came off on a stretcher.
Players want to play for there countries – simple as. I’m sure you would as well, it’s a massive honour.
But yea I would love to see them struck off the calender entirely but unfortunately like a cold bleak winter, it’s inevitable.
Pointless internationals that few people are interested in have put us in a difficult position. Along with one-off refereeing decisions, the injuries are mounting and points are difficult to make up, if you slip behind.
Spuds play with two in midfield so wouldn’t worry about being overpowered by bissouma and Sarr . Jorgi, Partey and Zincks would be wisest move and give alot of defensive stability.
The other option is kai in 8 and Sterling false 9 but ethan starting at 8 and the old boys behind him, I d be comfortable with any.
Spurs only goof options are up front and Brennan on right and Son in middle but if Salibs Gabi and Timber come back OK then I wouldn’t worry too much .
Oh great!
I said it when Calafiori got injured playing for Italy and I’ll say it again, I hate international football. It is all so pointless.
It shows we have over achieved getting so close to Man C***. Only Odegaard in that creative mid role where city have de bruyne foden Bernardo silva gundogan kovacic. Not to mention wide players doku savinho Bobb and players I don’t know like nunes mcatee perrone.
Don’t blame arsenal they’ve spent loads (though mainly on goalkeepers and left backs).
And if no one manages to score a goal against the Arsenal in the next 3 fixtures – how many points would you expect us to pick up? Jesus – maybe, Kai, Saka, Leo, Gabbi, and I guess Stirling – who is a hat trick against both spuds and city away from my liking him – they will get goals. Doubt we’ll look as ball dominant without Rice and Ode – but we will be just as defensively dominant won’t we?
now we will see if the process if working.
no more excuses
This start to the season has made me manage my own wild expectations. I don’t expect us to win anything now, O is the one who makes us tick, the fact that we have zero back up tells me this season is cooked. You might think I’m overreacting, but we are going to drop so many points over the next few weeks, we’re playing all our major rivals with zero cover and injuries galore.
So expect a season of ‘Arteta has failed’ and ‘Arteta out’. God I hate football sometimes.
It was coming. Look, city have 115 reasons why they can keep very expensive back up for all positions. For Arsenal, it is not possible, if they stick by the rules.
You cannot blame Arteta or Arsenal for this.
Remember, I think it was *2007/8, Arse lost all 4 of midfield for the run in. Even Ferguson admitted it was a major Reason for Utd overhauling us.
*Citation needed.Its from memory, not the internet.
A midfield of Jorginho, Partey, and Nwaneri, here we go!
I was complaining all summer that we hadn’t brought in a legit backup for odegaard. Even if rice and merino played, who is our backup creator. Everything goes through odegaard. City have silva, foden and KDB.
Horrified of a Partey/Jorginho pairing this weekend, only way to avoid it would be Nwaneri getting a start or Trossard and Havertz in the attacking mid positions. Unfortunately can’t see Arteta going with either of those options on the road in a derby match. Just hope our defense can hold up without our having the ball much and we can hit some chances on the counterattack or a free kick.
Ligaments. See you in 2025 Ody.
FAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKK!!!!!! Because I can’t yell it in front of my kids.
.
.
.
…..wait…..I do all the time……