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The injury Martin Ødegaard picked up during Tuesday's Champions League win against Sporting CP has turned out to be serious enough to rule him out for the home fixture against Bournemouth.
When Mikel Arteta was questioned about the fitness of four Arsenal players on Friday, Ødegaard among them, all he would concede was: "Yes, there have been changes since yesterday." When pressed on whether all of them would be available, the Spanish manager responded unconvincingly: "I don't know, some of them."
Thankfully, not every manager is quite so guarded when it comes to injury updates.
Ødegaard's Norway head coach Ståle Solbakken disclosed midweek that the national team captain had taken "a knock where he shouldn't have," which forced his early exit against Sporting. Solbakken downplayed the concern, describing it as "minor" and suggesting: "He'll be back on the pitch before long." Nevertheless, the layoff has lasted long enough for him to miss Saturday's encounter with the Cherries.
Confirmed Arsenal Lineup vs. Bournemouth
Starting XI: David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Myles Lewis-Skelly; Declan Rice, Martín Zubimendi; Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli; Viktor Gyökeres.
Substitutes: Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK), Cristhian Mosquera, Marli Salmon, Piero Hincapié, Christian Nørgaard, Eberechi Eze, Max Dowman, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard.
Arteta Boosted by Early Return
Arteta's unpredictable fitness bulletins can cut both ways. While Ødegaard's absence went largely unannounced, the news of Eberechi Eze's return proved to be a pleasant surprise this week.
Ødegaard's creative understudy had suffered a calf injury that kept him out of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. Although Arteta stayed tight-lipped on a comeback timeline, reports had indicated that Eze would be unlikely to feature at all during April. Yet, just one week after Easter, the England international has made a remarkable recovery to earn a place on the bench for the Bournemouth match.
"My first conversation with him after he felt a niggle, he wanted to be available the following week — we knew that wasn't realistic," Arteta reflected. "But the recovery, the determination he's shown from day one to get back as fast as possible, how he's pushed both the medical staff and himself to be there [against Bournemouth], it's just brilliant to see."
"I didn't realise he was so driven," Arsenal's manager added, "so obsessed and so willing to push his body to the limit. I didn't know that side of him, and it genuinely surprised me in a really powerful way — how much he loves the game. When you take away someone's chance to play, you truly see their character. His reaction was — wow."