MARTIN ODEGAARD is a major injury risk for the North London Derby after limping off on international duty in tears.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will already be without key midfielder Declan Rice following his red card against Brighton.
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And now the Gunners boss is sweating on his skipper’s fitness in what could be another bitter blow.
Odegaard, 25, captained Norway in their Nations League Group B3 clash against Austria.
But he was in agony just after the hour mark after a seemingly innocuous 50-50 tussle for possession, rolling his left ankle.
Odegaard immediately went down clutching the joint, writhing around in agony as replays showed the severity of the seemingly innocuous incident with Christoph Baumgartner.
And concerned Norway boss Stale Solbakken admitted it looked “painful” when quizzed by the media after full-time.
He said: “It looked painful, in the locker room, too.
“He was sitting with the physios and had no chance to continue. We know it was an ankle sprain.
“And, as those of us who have played football know, with luck it can turn out OK, if the ligaments aren’t torn.
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“But I’m not sure Mikel Arteta will call me tonight to praise me.”
TV cameras cut to the crowd and showed Odegaard’s girlfriend Helene Spilling looking on concerned.
The playmaker was treated by physios on the pitch with his head in his hands before hobbling off gingerly and in tears, assisted by the medics as he was barely able to put any weight on his left foot.
Baumgartner apologised for the collision – although the RB Leipzig forward was not at fault for the injury in the genuine battle for the ball.
Erling Haaland gave his team-mate a touch of consolation as the star headed off.
But ironically, the injury could boost Haaland’s own title hopes.
I’m not sure Mikel Arteta will call me tonight to praise me.
Stale Solbakken
Arsenal face a trip to Spurs on Sunday afternoon – before their opening Champions League clash next Thursday away at Atalanta then a visit to the Etihad to take on the champions on September 22.
And the fear of being without their influential skipper is now very real.
Rice’s suspension rules him out of the clash at Tottenham while new £32million midfielder Mikel Merino is sidelined with a fractured shoulder picked up in his very first Gunners training session.
And should Odegaard also be unavailable for the derby, Arteta will need to experiment.
Thomas Partey, Jorginho and dropping Kai Havertz in could be the most likely option – with the manager unlikely to turn to the inexperienced youngsters Myles Lewis-Skelly or Ethan Nwaneri for such a high-profile match.
Elsewhere, it has already been a costly international break for Arteta with new defender Riccardo Calafiori picking up a bizarre injury and leaving the Italy camp following the freak incident.
In Oslo, Felix Horn Myhre’s opener was cancelled out by ex-Manchester United loanee Marcel Sabitzer.
But Haaland grabbed the victory ten minutes from time after initially being flagged offside before a lengthy VAR check proved he was on.
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