Mikel Arteta guaranteed to be without five Arsenal stars for North London Derby vs Tottenham

Martin Odegaard is a doubt for Arsenal’s trip to Tottenham on Sunday after suffering an ankle injury on international duty with Norway.

The Gunners captain limped off against Austria on Monday night and Mikel Arteta admitted on Friday that more tests need to be carried out before the club know the extent of the 25-year-old’s injury ahead of the North London Derby. “We need some more tests. Let’s see what happens in the next day or so,” Arteta said.

“This afternoon probably. Let’s see the extent of the injury and how quickly we can get him back. He’s super positive about everything. Martin wants to be here every day, but we have to wait and see.”

Odegaard’s injury is a big blow to Arsenal as they are already without Declan Rice for the clash with Tottenham. The England international was sent off against Brighton before the international break, controversially being shown a second yellow card in the second half for kicking the ball away from Joel Veltman as the defender went to take a quick free kick. He must now serve a one-match suspension so although he will not be available to play against Tottenham, he will feature against Manchester City next week.

Mikel Merino is the third midfielder to be ruled out of the North London Derby, with the former Real Sociedad man nursing a shoulder injury sustained in his first ever training session with the Gunners. Arteta confirmed on August 30 that Merino will likely be out “for a few weeks” although further reports have claimed the Spaniard may not return until October.

There is better news regarding Gabriel Jesus, however, who has missed Arsenal’s previous two games with a groin injury. “Gabi was out there,” Arteta said. “He’s got another session tomorrow and if everything goes well he’ll be ready to be selected in the squad which is great news for us.” Riccardo Calafiori is also expected to be fit despite returning to London early after picking up a slight niggle while playing for Italy. “He’s another one where we’ll have to wait another day or so,” Arteta admitted.

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney remain sidelined with knee and hamstring injuries respectively, although both are said to have made progress over the international break. Taking into consideration all of the above, it means Arteta is guaranteed to be without five senior players for the clash with Tottenham.

So, looking at the official Arsenal website, the Gunners have 17 fit senior players available for selection for the game at Tottenham. This does not include Ethan Nwaneri, who has been included in all three matchday squads already this season and could even be considered a possible Odegaard replacement.

As per Premier League rules, a club is allowed to name a squad of 20 players for a Premier League match which means a couple of academy stars will need to step up. Myles Lewis-Skelly has impressed in training and could again be called up to the senior matchday squad, while Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand was named on the bench against Brighton so it’s possible he is again part of the first team group.

Possible Arsenal squad for Tottenham: Raya, Neto; White, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Calafiori, Zinchenko; Partey, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Oulad M’Hand, Havertz; Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, Sterling, Jesus.

Senior players unavailable for Tottenham: Odegaard (ankle injury), Rice (suspended), Tomiyasu (knee injury), Tierney (hamstring injury), Merino (shoulder injury).