Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard could not make it to halftime of the Gunners’ Saturday visit from Leeds United as an early-match injury became too much.
Odegaard, 26, suffered an apparent shoulder injury on a foul that led to a free kick after 15 minutes.
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He played on but went down again, this time drawing trainers onto the field around the half-hour mark.
Arsenal had broken through for a 1-0 lead over Leeds through Jurrien Timber when the captain was removed from the match.
Ethan Nwaneri took the midfielder’s place in the 38th minute, halftime a bridge too far for his discomfort. In an awful coincidence, Bukayo Saka took the captain’s armband and limped off early in the second half.
Martin Odegaard injury latest update
It look like there’s relief in North London, according to a report from The Athletic.
The report from Dan Sheldon and James McNicholas says neither Odegaard nor Saka are expected to miss a significant period of time.
There is no update on whether Saka or Odegaard could be fit enough to feature versus Liverpool on Sunday in Week 3.
Arsenal captain left match with shoulder injury
Odegaard is no soft player. especially for a playmaker, so it’s alarming whenever he’s not fit to continue with a match.
But Arsenal were in full control of the match even if the lead was just 1-0, and there will be hope that boss Mikel Arteta simply deemed the question one of unnecessary risk. If so, it was astute and/or prescient; Arsenal led 2-0 by halftime.
Odegaard played in 45 games last season and his Premier League total of 30 in the 2024-25 campaign was preceded by 35, 37, and 36 the previous three seasons.
The 65-times capped Norwegian midfielder will not miss time if it’s unnecessary but this is the time of the season to allow for rest and recovery.
Here’s what Arteta said after the game when asked about the injuries to Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
“Martin looked like a shoulder,” Arteta said. “He’ll have a scan tomorrow so we’ll see. Bukayo had to come off when he was sprinting with a defender, He felt a hamstring, a different one [than last season]. We had already lost Kai [Havertz], who is a massive player. And now Bukayo and Martin, that’s why the squad has to be big.”
