Ødegaard injury concerns Arteta despite win against West Ham as Rice also taken off with suspected back problem.
Martin Ødegaard injury takes shine off Arsenal’s victory over West Ham.
As Arsenal continued to put pressure on Liverpool at the top of the Premier League, Mikel Arteta is worried about Martin Ødegaard’s knee injury after the captain hobbled out of the team’s 2-0 victory over West Ham.
Following a confrontation with Crysencio Summerville prior to halftime, the Norwegian was removed from the Emirates Stadium with his left knee in a brace. After scoring the first goal against his old team, Declan Rice was also forced to leave the game in the second half due to a back injury. The England midfielder is not expected to play against Wales on Thursday or Latvia on Tuesday.
The Arsenal manager is most concerned about Ødegaard’s condition, though, as he became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted in three straight games before halftime after being pulled against Leeds and Nottingham Forest due to a shoulder injury.
“He had a clash knee-to-knee, and immediately he was uncomfortable,” said Arteta, who marked his 300th game in charge with a comfortable victory. “I just spoke to him, he’s not positive about it, he’s got a brace on. We’ll have to wait and see from the doctors.
“We haven’t had him since the start of the season for one reason or the other, the shoulder twice and then this injury. We’ll find solutions, but obviously he’s our captain and is a player that gives us a completely different dimension with the things that he can do, especially in attacking. Let’s wait, and hopefully it’s not that bad.”
On Rice, he added: “He’s not all right because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame. He had pain in his back and he could not carry on, which is something very unusual for Declan, so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is.”