Arsenal: Martin Odegaard injury update as he reveals severity of knee issue – ‘it was very sore’ | OneFootball

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has revealed an update on his knee injury after he picked up the issue during his side’s 1-1 draw against Brentford.

27-year-old Odegaard has been criticised for his disappointing form this season, though it has been a stop-start campaign for the midfielder due to injuries.

On Thursday night, Odegaard came off the bench in the 1-1 stalemate at Brentford and picked up another knee issue that means he is unlikely to feature for Arsenal against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

But Odegaard has shed light on his current situation after he was initially “worried”.

“I picked up a bit of an injury when they (Brentford) scored their goal, but hopefully it’s not too bad,” Odegaard wrote in Arsenal’s programme.

“We’ll see how it goes in the build-up to today’s game and over the next few days.

“I tried to clear the ball as it came down, but instead kicked into the player a bit, and ended up over-stretching my leg, which pinched the knee.

“I was able to carry on, but on Friday morning it was very sore, so I was worried of course, but thankfully it looks like it’s not too bad.”

He added: “Today it’s a change of focus in the FA Cup, which is a big target for us.

“This group of players hasn’t had a run in this competition, and it’s definitely something we want to do. We know we can do better in this competition.

“In recent years, we’ve gone out quite early, so that’s something we want to make better and it’s another competition we want to go all the way in.”

Arsenal are also without Mikel Merino and Kai Havertz, so they are short of midfield options at an important stage of the season.

Their issues would not be quite so bad if they had not loaned Ethan Nwaneri to Marseille in January, but head coach Mikel Arteta has backed the decision to let him leave.

“That’s easy to say,” Arteta said when asked whether he regrets letting Nwaneri leave on loan in January.

“After making the decision, who could have predicted that Mikel was going to be out for five months and Kai?

“It’s unfortunate, at the end we have to make the decisions on the moment, understanding the context there.

“The best decision for the club, for Ethan, for sure it was for him to go and experience a different environment, have minutes played, and get ready to come back to us.”

On Roberto De Zerbi leaving Brighton, he added: “‘Well, I cannot control that.

“Again, it’s a decision and that’s part of playing on loan, and that’s part of a journey of a football player. So you’re going to have to work with different coaches, and that can happen any moment, you cannot control that, you cannot avoid that.”