Arsenal face the prospect of taking on bitter local rivals Tottenham Hotspur this weekend without skipper Martin Odegaard after the Norwegian injured his ankle on international duty.
The 25-year-old appeared to injure his ankle during the second half of Norway’s 2-1 win over Austria on Monday night and was later spotted boarding a plane back to London on crutches.
"It looked bad in the dressing room too,” Norway head coach Stale Solbakken said following the game, with the player set for an MRI scan on his return to Arsenal.
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With Declan Rice suspended for the trip to Spurs and new signing Mikel Merino still injured, the timing of the injury is a hammer blow to Arsenal, who begin their Champions League campaign with a trip to Atalanta on Thursday night, ahead of facing Manchester City next Sunday.
While the club assess Odegaard’s injury and cross their fingers that the problem is not serious, the Gunners will be well aware of how much of a miss the influential midfielder would be.
Odegaard joined Arsenal initially on loan from Real Madrid in January 2021 before his move was made permanent the following summer and he has played in a remarkable 125 out of 135 Premier League games since then.
Worryingly, the team’s winning percentage drops from 65.5 per cent with the Norwegian in the team to 50 per cent without him - a dip of more than 15 per cent. Arsenal have lost 20 per cent of their games with Odegaard in the team, compared to 40 per cent when he is missing.
Arsenal also score fewer goals when he is missing (2.04 per game, down to 1.9 goals per game), although they concede marginally more with him in the side (1.04 per game vs 1.0 per game).
In terms of his individual contribution, Odegaard has netted 31 times and served up 23 assists in his 125 Premier League appearances, which means he delivers a goal contribution every 188 minutes, which again underlines just what he means to this side.
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