Arsenal receive double Martin Odegaard boost ahead of Inter clash
Martin Odegaard is in contention to make his eagerly anticipated Arsenal comeback against Inter.
The Gunners played 12 games in all competitions without their skipper since he damaged ankle ligaments playing for Norway during September’s international break.
Arsenal initially coped admirably without their most creative player, beating Tottenham away from home and coming within a whisker of winning at Manchester City for the first time since 2015.
More recently, however, Mikel Arteta’s side have struggled without their skipper and have taken just one point from the last three Premier League games, a run culminating in Saturday’s defeat at Newcastle.
Odegaard appears ready to give his team a much needed boost and was back in training on Tuesday morning and is likely to fly to Milan with the rest of the first team squad later today.
Inter have made a solid start to their Champions League campaign and it doesn’t get any easier for Arsenal with a London derby against Chelsea on Sunday at Stamford Bridge on the horizon.
Arteta will hope Odegaard will be able to feature in both matches this week before November’s international fixtures which, much to his club manager’s relief, the Arsenal No.8 won’t take any part in.
Norway had been threatening to select their talisman ahead of the upcoming games against Slovenia and Kazakhstan but it appears that a compromise has been reached.
Whether Odegaard is fit enough to start for Arsenal, meanwhile, remains to be seen but former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand admit he has bee left in shock as to how sorely he has been missed.
‘The biggest miss and I didn’t anticipate him being this important,’ confessed Ferdinand. I think he’s a top player, but he’s gone down and it looks like he’s the most important player to be missed in this team and that’s Odegaard.
‘Other players you can bring in – a centre-half can stop chances here and there – but one of the hardest things to do in a gem is score goals and before that, you have to create opportunities.
‘He is the tempo-maker in the team, he helps you retain the ball better than anyone else in the team and then it’s about that bit of magic at the end to create the chance.
‘I keep seeing people saying, ‘It’s a no.9 [that Arsenal need]’. You’re not creating chances. You can have the best number nine there but you’re still not getting the ball to him.’
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