Morning.
The early reporting on Martin Odegaard’s injury suggests he will miss the North London derby and next week’s trip to Man City. The Norwegian team doctor, Ole Sand, said:
What we have so far obtained from the MRI examination in London is that there is probably no fracture in the ankle. It is always a bit difficult to interpret an MRI scan when you have had an old injury, but Arsenal are almost certain there is no breach, but this may still take some time.
None of this is surprising. It would have been a massive shock if he were available, so confirmation of his absence is, while disheartening, not out of the blue or anything like that. He’ll also miss our first Champions League game, against Atalanta on Thursday – btw, how nice of the schedule to give us a Thursday game when we’re going to the Etihad on Sunday. Cheers for that.
The time-frame of Odegaard’s injury gives Mikel Arteta a lot to think about. Obviously he’ll have been considering what to do without Declan Rice for Sunday, but that’s a one game suspension – you find something you think will work in the very short-term. When it comes to the absence of the captain and the main playmaker, it’s significantly different when you have to find a solution for an extended period of time. It’s conceivable that Odegaard could miss 7 games before we see him again, and that necessitates much more than a sticking plaster solution.
My suspicion is that we’ll see something more tactical than simply a one for one replacement in that position. I could be wrong, but the closest player we have stylistically to Odegaard is Ethan Nwaneri. There is a part of me that would love him to get the nod, and to get a run of games to showcase his talent and potential. We know that Odegaard has been mentoring him behind the scenes, but I can’t imagine the plan would ever have been for him to be required this early in the season, for this long, and with games of this magnitude to contend with.
He is…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/09/the-odegaard-options/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-09-12 06:43:41
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