TEAM REPORTS 🚨🚨Martin Odegaard and Ben White Arsenal injury return theory emerges amid Mikel Arteta wait

Latest Arsenal injury news with possible fitness updates emerging on Martin Odegaard and Ben White

An Arsenal injury return theory has emerged surrounding Martin Odegaard ahead of the game against Southampton

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will be hoping Martin Odegaard and Ben White can return from injury over the coming weeks. Both players have missed the last few weeks with Odegaard’s absence dating back to the September international break where he suffered ankle ligament damage.

“After recent scans, they’ve showed that he’s got some damage especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle,” the Gunners head coach revealed in mid-September. “We’re going to miss him. It’s quite significant, so we’re going to lose him for a while.”

Arteta also suggested he would not feature for Norway during the October international break with national team head coach Stale Solbakken seeming to confirm as such. “He is far from being in the squad,” he said of Odegaard. “We will have to see how far he gets during this international break.

“It is possible that he will come, but it depends a little on his rehabilitation. I have not spoken to him in the past four or five days.” As for White, a rough timeline on his potential return has not been provided by Arteta, though it looks as though he is being carefully managed after playing through a number of injury issues.

With Riccardo Calafiori joining in the summer and Jurrien Timber able to feature regularly, Arteta has two new full-back options that weren’t available to him last year, though the latter is now also an injury doubt. As such, White can now fully recover from any niggling injuries that have plagued him over the last 12 months.

Though those two absences are far from ideal for Arteta, he was able to hand Mikel Merino his debut against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. The Spain international has been missing for the last four weeks because of a shoulder injury suffered in his first training session.

Despite his return, Arsenal are still without the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Tommy Setford, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu, though the latter was spotted back in training earlier this week. A return out on the grass at London Colney for Odegaard and White meanwhile, could be some way off with a new injury theory emerging.

For the win over PSG, Tierney, Setford and Tomiyasu all watched the game from behind the dugout while Odegaard and White took in the action from a box high up in the stands.

It could be that players are given the option of where they wish to sit as long as they attend, however Tomiyasu’s impending comeback may mean those three are close to returns. Setford has missed the last few weeks with a groin issue, while Tierney is a long-term absentee because of a hamstring problem suffered at Euro 2024.

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