Mikel Arteta was delighted to mark his 300th match in charge of Arsenal with a 2-0 home win over West Ham, but revealed Martin Ødegaard is “not positive” about his latest injury problem.
Arsenal captain Ødegaard has endured an injury-hit campaign and suffered another setback on Saturday when he was forced off after 30 minutes with a left knee issue.
It was the third consecutive Premier League home match in which Ødegaard has been replaced before half-time and despite goals by Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka either side of the break, Arteta cut a downbeat figure when quizzed on the Norway international’s fitness.
“I think he had a clash, knee-to-knee and immediately he was uncomfortable. I just spoke to him and he is not positive about it,” Arteta revealed.
“He has got a brace on. We will have to wait from the doctors but we have been very unlucky with that.
“Yeah we haven’t had him since the start for one reason or another. The shoulder twice and then this injury.
“We have to wait and see the extent of the injury. We will have to find solutions but obviously [Ødegaard] is our captain and is a player that gives us a completely different dimension with things that he can do, especially in the attack.
“Let’s wait and hopefully it is not that bad.”
Ødegaard is not Arsenal’s only injury concern with Rice substituted in the 79th minute at his own request with a back issue before England‘s fixtures with Wales and Latvia this month.
“Well, he’s not alright because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame,” Arteta explained.
“He had pain in his back and he could not carry on, which is something very unusual for Declan, so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is.”
Fitness worries over Ødegaard and Rice did not completely spoil a special occasion for Arteta after he registered the 177th victory of his tenure in a milestone match at Emirates Stadium, which helped make up for past home defeats to West Ham in previous seasons.
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Asked about his 300th fixture, Arteta reflected: “Very proud. It is a big number for this football club.
“I want to thank everybody, especially my coaching staff that have been with me since day one and without them it’s impossible first of all to do the job and secondly to enjoy it.
“I wanted to celebrate it with a win, I’ve got it. Now we have an international break to enjoy it and use the time as well to prepare because what’s coming in the next break is going to be really difficult again.”
Nuno Espirito Santo tasted defeat for the first time a week on from being hired as Graham Potter’s successor at West Ham.
Niclas Fulkrug headed wide during the opening 60 seconds for the Hammers, but that was as close as they got on a difficult afternoon.
“Tough, very tough. We knew it, we expect it and it was really tough,” Nuno admitted.
“Arsenal put us against the ropes for many parts of the game and we were not able to really go out and run. Parts of the game we defend well, but it was tough. It was a tough game.”
