Arsenal expert Charles Watts sends an instruction to Mikel Arteta over captain Martin Odegaard ahead of the playmaker’s anticipated return from injury.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has no need to throw captain Martin Odegaard into the first XI when the Norway international recovers from his latest injury blow, expert Charles Watts has told Sports Mole.
The former Real Madrid protege has been sidelined for over a month with the knee problem he sustained against West Ham United on October 2, which the Gunners confirmed was an MCL injury following his record-breaking substitution.
Following a pair of previous shoulder injuries, Odegaard became the first player in Premier League history to be taken off before half time in three consecutive starts, although reports have suggested that he is vying for a return soon after the international break.
However, Norway boss Stale Solbakken recently cast doubt on those claims, stating that the playmaker was still “some distance” away from being fit, suggesting that he will not be ready for the North London derby with Tottenham Hotspur on November 23.
Nevertheless, Watts has told Arteta that he can afford to ease his skipper back in slowly, even if history suggests he might be inclined otherwise, saying: “They can afford not to, because they’ve got [Eberechi] Eze who has filled in well.
Arsenal will be ‘tempted’ to throw Martin Odegaard back into starting XI
“He’s very, very different to Martin Odegaard in terms of how he plays that position. He’s clearly getting used to playing that position, which isn’t his usual one. So they can deal without throwing him straight back in.
“But the temptation will be to throw him in if the medical staff say he’s fine. It was Chelsea last season when he’d been out for ages with that ankle injury, came back and was suddenly starting and playing the whole game.
“So the history suggests Mikel’s not afraid to do that. But it’s a massive week, three huge games – you don’t get a week as big as this every so often. Tottenham, Bayern Munich, Chelsea at Stamford Bridge! You’d have to factor in those games and trying to keep players fresh when you’re choosing your starting 11.
“But the Tottenham game feels very big to me on the back of the draw against Sunderland. Two weeks to sit on that result and that late goal. You want to hit the ground running straight after international break and show everyone that’s not the start of a blip.”
Odegaard has flown out to join up with the Norway squad for the November international break, but the 26-year-old will not be playing any minutes for his nation in their World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Estonia and Italy.
The Arsenal skipper has played just seven games in all tournaments during the 2025-26 campaign due to his fitness struggles, providing two assists but failing to get onto the scoresheet himself.
When could Arsenal’s other injury victims return?
Odegaard is one of just six stricken Arsenal players on the treatment table at present, and he is being kept company in the infirmary by Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz.
All of Madueke, Havertz and Jesus are also on their way back from knee injuries, but the latter has now been filmed in full training again, 10 months on from his devastating ACL rupture in January.
The Brazil international is now building up to a competitive return in either late December or early January, but neither Madueke nor Havertz have been ruled out of the North London derby just yet.
The same goes for Gyokeres and Martinelli, both of whom are on the mend from muscular problems sustained over the past couple of weeks, so Arsenal could receive no fewer than four fitness boosts for the North London derby in two weekends’ time.
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