‘He Shouldn’t Have’—Arsenal Face Martin Odegaard Injury Blow Ahead of Crucial Run-In

Ødegaard has received a public health update from Norway’s manager after limping off for Arsenal against Sporting CP.

Martin Ødegaard has suffered with various injuries this season. | Diogo Faria Reis/MB Media/Getty Images

Norway manager Ståle Solbakken confirmed that his captain and Arsenal’s talismanic skipper Martin Ødegaard had suffered a “knock where he shouldn’t have” during Tuesday’s Champions League victory over Sporting CP. However, the international boss was keen to describe the injury as “minor.”

Ødegaard led the Gunners out in Lisbon and lasted 70 minutes before dropping to his haunches. Mikel Arteta was forced to remove his playmaker for the contest’s conclusion—bringing on Kai Havertz, who ultimately scored the game’s only goal—and Solbakken has since shed light on these concerning scenes.

“He [Ødegaard] took a minor knock where he shouldn’t have,” the Norway boss told reporters at the 2026 Football Conference at Ullevaal Stadium on Thursday, “but I don’t think it’s anything serious.

“He’ll be back on the field before long. It was a minor setback, and we don’t need any more of them.”

Ødegaard certainly doesn’t need any more setbacks in an injury-riddled campaign.

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Fears Over Ødegaard Re-Injury Rise

Martin Ødegaard suffered a knee injury against West Ham United at the start of the season. | IMAGO/Paul Marriott

Ødegaard has muddled through a luckless season. The Arsenal captain spent the start of the campaign repeatedly forced off with a bizarre shoulder issue before he sustained more serious damage to his knee in October.

The 27-year-old was forced to sit out almost two months before belatedly returning for the busy festive schedule. Ødegaard enjoyed an unbroken run in the team between December and January only to then find himself frequently returning to the treatment room with a series of minor issues.

Most concerningly, Ødegaard was sidelined with another knee problem for the entirety of March, ruling him out of the Carabao Cup final and Norway’s final set of friendlies before the World Cup roster is announced.

Solbakken’s warning that Ødegaard’s injury came in a place “where [it] shouldn’t have” suggests that this problematic knee has once again flared up for Arsenal’s creator-in-chief. While the recovery time appears to be mercifully minimal at this point, the Gunners are in no position to suffer any underwhelming results at this stage of the season.

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Arsenal Can Scarcely Afford Ødegaard Absence

Mikel Arteta is facing a fitness crisis at the worst possible time. | Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

Arsenal had not lost back-to-back games all season before finding themselves dumped out of both domestic cup competitions in consecutive matches. That blip in form—which was unconvincingly arrested with a scratchy Champions League win in midweek—has coincided with a glut of injuries.

Ødegaard’s stand-in for so much of the season has been Eberechi Eze, who was cut down with a calf problem just as he was enjoying the best form of his debut season. While Eze is not expected back until the end of April at the earliest, Arsenal are unlikely to see the reliably versatile figure of Mikel Merino play for them again before the World Cup, leaving a creativity chasm only Ødegaard is capable of filling within the squad.

Both first-choice fullbacks, Piero Hincapié and Jurriën Timber, are also sharing a treatment room currently co-habited by Bukayo Saka.

Arsenal have seven Premier League games remaining with a nine-point gap above Manchester City. There is also the small matter of potentially four more Champions League fixtures to navigate. They will be a lot harder to win without Ødegaard.

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