Arsenal handed nightmare Martin Odegaard injury scenario after Mikel Arteta risk backfires

Mikel Arteta has been handed the worst-case Martin Odegaard scenario after the Arsenal captain made his first Premier League start in over two months. The 25-year-old picked up an ankle injury playing for Norway during the September international break with his return to training only arriving one week ago.

After making it through a team session at London Colney last Monday, Odegaard travelled with Arsenal for the Champions League clash at Inter and appeared off the bench for the final few minutes. Following that, he had a further two days of training with Arteta making the bold call to name him in the starting XI at Stamford Bridge.

Unsurprisingly, Odegaard gave the Gunners a creative edge with his eye for a pass directly resulting in Gabriel Martinelli's goal at Stamford Bridge, though Pedro Neto swiftly equalised. "I don’t know another player that is capable of [playing 90 minutes to that standard] after six weeks out,"

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"He had a day-and-a-half to be able to do that. Just how physically and mentally connected he was with the team it was unbelievable." Odegaard ended up playing the entirety of the London derby, though that was likely not the plan, with other injury issues emerging.

While that duo could yet pull out, Odegaard has in fact received a late call-up to the Norway squad after initially being left out.

Playing 90 minutes for Arsenal likely didn't help Arteta's case when it may have come to arguing that he should remain at London Colney,

As he has been able to prove his fitness, the decision was rather straightforward for national team boss Stale Solbakken. It is very unlikely Arteta will have any regrets over deploying his skipper for the whole game, but he will definitely have concerns over him suffering either an injury setback or new issue over the next 12 days.

The two weeks spent in north London could have been great for Odegaard to rest and further build up his fitness. However, given the importance of Norway's games, it is very unlikely that he will not play in both games, a scenario that may not present good news for Arteta.