Arsenal are facing an anxious wait to discover the extent of Martin Odegaard’s injury scare. The Arsenal captain has emerged as a doubt for Norway’s Nations League clash against Wales on Wednesday because of an ankle issue sustained in the 2-1 loss to Portugal at the weekend.
Injury incident against Portugal
Odegaard suffered the injury in the closing stages of the showdown, when he was kicked from behind by former Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva. Odegaard furiously confronted the Real Madrid star at the time of the incident and then stated afterwards that the challenge "doesn't belong on a football field".
Training absence and update
As Norway trained on Tuesday morning, Odegaard did not take part in that session. His ankle was said to still be too painful for him to return to training, thus raising further doubts over his involvement. Assistant coach Brede Hangeland then said: "Martin was in the breakfast room, he was happy and he had less pain in his ankle than yesterday. It's a long time until the next game, it's a full two and a half days. A lot can happen in that time. Martin will be allowed to do what he wants in training today with regard to his ankle, and I'm glad it's much better than yesterday."
Not spotted in Wales
Despite this update, Odegaard was NOT spotted in the photos uploaded by Norway on social media of the squad arriving in Wales on Wednesday afternoon. It could be that the Arsenal midfielder did travel and just wasn’t captured on camera. Whatever the case is, the picture is expected to become a whole lot clearer when Norway boss Stale Solbakken sits in front of the media for his pre-match press conference at 3.45pm BST.
