Arsenal are hopeful of welcoming captain Martin Odegaard back from injury in time for next week’s Champions League clash with Inter, a report has claimed.
Odegaard has been sidelined with an ankle injury since September and there were initial fears that he could miss the rest of the calendar year, although subsequent updates have predicted a faster return as the Norwegian continues to progress in his recovery.
According to the Evening Standard, Arsenal now believe Odegaard could be back in action trip to face Inter on Wednesday, having only narrowly failed a fitness test to feature in the squad for Saturday’s meeting with Newcastle United.
Manager Mikel Arteta confirmed Odegaard will “definitely” miss the Newcastle game but backed the midfielder to make his comeback soon.
“Now is the stage he’s going to start doing some work with us and see how he deals with pain,” Arteta told his pre-match press conference.
“With the work rate and the amount of hours he has put in, I don’t know when he will be ready. Hopefully soon.”
Defender Riccardo Calafiori remains unavailable for the Newcastle game, as are Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney, but some “good news” on centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes has seen him return to training and put himself back in contention for a place in the Arsenal squad this weekend.
