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Norway head coach Ståle Solbakken has admitted he is uncertain whether midfielder Martin Ødegaard will be fit to feature on Thursday against Wales.
A rough tackle from Portugal's Bernardo Silva left the Arsenal skipper hobbling during his most recent Norway outing, and Ødegaard missed training on Tuesday due to the knock. For now, the 27-year-old has not been ruled out of the squad.
Arsenal supporters are hopeful the injury amounts to nothing more than a minor knock, and while Solbakken did not seem overly worried ahead of the game, he acknowledged that a period on the bench could ultimately prove unavoidable.
"I wish I could say yes, but I can't say that. I can't say no either," Solbakken stated, when pressed on whether Ødegaard would feature against Wales. "He will be assessed a bit today. If he had been unavailable, he obviously wouldn't have been here."
Ødegaard returned to the training pitch on Wednesday, though his participation in Thursday's Nations League fixture remains uncertain.
Do Arsenal Need to Worry About Ødegaard Injury?
It was during the first international break of 2024 that Ødegaard sustained an ankle injury which ruled him out of 12 Arsenal matches. A series of additional fitness setbacks then disrupted his 2025–26 campaign, though Ødegaard has looked back to his sharpest in the opening weeks of the new season.
Arsenal supporters will be anxiously waiting for a definitive update on Ødegaard, eager to see their captain steer clear of the kind of physical setbacks that hampered him so significantly over the previous two years.
The Gunners would arguably have preferred Ødegaard to leave the Norway camp as a precautionary measure, but his continued presence in the squad can be viewed as an encouraging sign. As Solbakken points out, Norway would not have welcomed him back into training if there were no realistic prospect of him being fit to play.
With Arsenal not returning to action until Saturday's early kickoff against Leeds United, Ødegaard has ample time to fully recover from what appears to be a relatively minor complaint.
Mindful of avoiding unnecessary risks, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta may consider resting Ødegaard against Leeds with an eye on protecting him for the upcoming Champions League home tie against Lille three days later. The daunting away trip to Bayern Munich later in October also looms large, which could prompt Arteta to manage Ødegaard's workload carefully in the immediate aftermath of this international break.