Arsenal have confirmed that Martin Odegaard suffered a medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee and will not be part of the Norway squad during the upcoming international break.
The Gunners captain limped out of the 2-0 win over West Ham on Saturday after just 30 minutes, replaced by Martin Zubimendi.
It is the latest fitness setback for the Norwegian, who has already been sidelined this season due to two separate shoulder injuries.
As he was taken off against West Ham, the 26-year-old became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted before half-time in three consecutive starts, illustrating how many fitness headaches he has been dealing with.
How long he will now be out for is not certain, but Odegaard will not feature for his country in their upcoming fixtures, one a World Cup qualifiers and the next a friendly.
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A statement from Arsenal on Sunday afternoon read: ‘Martin Odegaard has been withdrawn from the Norway national team for their upcoming matches against Israel and New Zealand after sustaining a medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee during the first half in Saturday’s win over West Ham United.
‘Martin will continue to be assessed and treated by our medical team at Sobha Realty Training Centre during the international window, with the aim of a return to action as soon as possible.’
Speaking after the victory over the Hammers, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of his captain: ‘I just spoke to him. He’s not positive about it.
‘He’s got a brace on. We’ll have to wait and see from the doctors, but we haven’t been very lucky with that either.
‘We haven’t had him since the start of the season for one reason or the other. The shoulder twice and then this injury.
‘We’ll have to wait and see the extent of that injury, and we’ll find solutions, but obviously he’s our captain and is a player that gives us a completely different dimension with the things that he can do, especially in attacking.
‘Let’s wait and hopefully it’s not that bad.’
There was also concern for Declan Rice on Saturday after the England star opened the scoring against his former club.
‘He’s not all right because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame,’ said Arteta. ‘He had a 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.’
The Gunners are not back in action until a trip across London to take on Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday October 18.
It is a busy end of the month for Arteta’s side, though, with three homes games against Atletico Madrid, Crystal Palace and Brighton before the end of October, in the Champions League, Premier League and Carabao Cup respectively.