Odegaard’s absence can be absorbed, but only just – Suburban Gooners

I think we’re going to get to the point where, despite stockpiling a billion players over the summer, this team will soon start to look thin. Such is the injury curse we are receiving, with Odegaard rumored to be out until after the next international break in November, that if we start picking them up we will end up looking worn out.

On Odegaard, you really have to feel sorry for him, because these are not injuries caused by overplay. These are impact injuries that simply bring bad luck. Two shoulder injuries in the same place and then the knee clash, which is very tough for the Norwegian and I don’t know about you but I’m watching that game against The Scum on November 23 and I’m really hoping he can make the match day squad for that one. It’s just desperately unlucky. You can say whatever you want about the club, the overuse of players, maybe the training, but I think that’s speculating on too many variables with not enough personal knowledge. There was a pre-match press conference from Mikel Arteta a few weeks ago where he talked about all the different variables and it was a really fascinating insight, because for me it showed me how much detail the club has looked at this issue. I think most of us figured they would try to leave no stone unturned; he’s Mikel Arteta and we know he’s a details guy, but when you look at the Odegaard case in isolation it seems like we have ourselves a guy who appears to have stepped on three drains, passed several black cats, picked up said cats and then decided to walk under a row of ladders.

Again, if you look at the positive side of the situation, it shouldn’t indicate an underlying problem like that of Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky or Thomas Vermaelen. The diagnosis is hopefully that he will have to sit out without surgery and then be able to return after the international break and if I’m in Odegaard’s place right now I have a big red circle around the North London Derby. Let’s hope he can achieve this.

We also have Kai Havertz, who hasn’t been seen since the first matchweek and Arteta said a few weeks ago that it would be “weeks” not “months”, which is good. But if he’s expected to return in November (hopefully early), then he’s already one of our key offensive players who will have missed at least a third of the full season. Madueke is the same – he should return in November and that’s another one where Arteta said ‘a few weeks’ in September. So if I try to put a glass hat half full (that would be weird. What would a glass hat half full look like??) and I say early November, then we only have a few weeks to sail after this international break ends.

And if that can happen, then we’ll have Fulham away, Atletico Madrid at home, Palace at home, Brighton in the League Cup and probably Burnley away on November 1. If we talk about Kai and Noni looking to return after these matches, then there is a small block of matches in which I think the Arsenal team can absorb the impact of the absentees. Arteta has tried to rotate players to keep them fresh and I think that means in games like Atletico Madrid we might see a Merino, for example, while you watch Ethan get minutes and expect him to be in line for a start or two. I suspect it will be Eze this weekend, perhaps against Atletico, but perhaps with Palace at home Nwaneri could watch for some minutes? In the League Cup, I think given our injuries we’ll want to see a lot more turnover than we normally would against a Premier League opponent.

And with all these injuries, I don’t know about you, but I naturally start looking at who played last night and if there were any issues. That doesn’t seem to be the case so far, which is a relief because after wondering if Trossard and Martinelli could be sold this summer, they are now becoming vital players for us. Leo scored for Belgium last night just at the death against the Welsh and before this international break, I found it interesting to see him start in our last three Premier League matches, as well as Olympiakos in the Champions League. So while many of us – myself included – thought his playing time might be limited and Martinelli, Madueke and Eze would battle for the left winger position, with Leo finding his minutes limited, the opposite actually happened. Trossard played 84 against Man City, 88 against Newcastle, 74 against Olympiakos then 75 against West Ham. Obviously in that left wing position he’s doing the things Arteta wanted before the other players and with that in mind (and probably also given the moves Martinelli is making for Brazil this week) I wonder if he’ll get another chance in that wide left position on Saturday too?

So for all the talk about rotation at the start of the season, we’re starting to see some players get more minutes more frequently than others and if I’m honest, as long as they’re performing well, then I’m fine with that. I think Trossard did well against Newcastle and was unlucky not to score when hitting the post. He came off the bench to score against Port Vale and I thought against West Ham he did well; for Belgium he has been on the scoresheet and this form makes you wonder if he could still be counted on, with Martinelli being used as an impact runner when the opposition tires. Martinelli himself never came off the bench in the away game in South Korea and at 11:30am today UK time he will be hoping to play a few minutes against Japan, but if those minutes are managed I think I’m fine with it. However, regardless of how much time he gets on the pitch, I think I speak for all of us when I say we just need him and Big Gabi to finish another round of pointless friendlies and get them back on the plane for us.

I think that’s it for me today. I don’t really want to talk about Big Vik’s sad night as Sweden were poor against Kosovo, nor do I want to delve into France’s 2-2 draw against Iceland, as long as we know Big Bill is fine and is now heading back to England to be ready for the visit to the Cottage on Saturday night.

So I’m going to take another day off and come back with more thoughts as we begin to wrap up this international break. Fortunately.