Martin Odegaard missed the match against Man City as he is on the mend after an “unfortunate” series of injuries. He shared the progress on the journey to recovery in the club’s matchday programme.
- ‘It’s a strange one’
Odegaard fell awkwardly on his shoulder in a 5-0 win over Leeds United and looked back at the incident. It is a big blow, but he is doing his best to be fit for the first team as soon as possible.
“My shoulder was very sore, but I’ve just been taking it day by day this week, working hard. It’s the same shoulder I hurt in the Leeds United game, pretty much the same injury, so just really bad luck.”
After another collision, a recurrence of the issue against Nottingham Forest forced him to leave the pitch at the Emirates Stadium in under 20 minutes for the second time in a mere matter of weeks.
“The first injury healed well, I was over it, but then the same thing happened again. It had never happened to me in 11 years, but it happens twice in two weeks. It’s a strange one, very unfortunate.”
From the second phase of a set-piece, Odegaard rushed after the ball, and Jurrien Timber threw himself across the floor in a sliding tackle to take care of Morgan Gibbs-White. It was, as he admitted, an innocuous moment, so he holds no hard feelings against anyone over the situation.
“The challenge itself was fine. I think three of us went for the same ball, and I felt something connect with my foot which kind of flipped me forward, and I couldn’t do anything about how I landed.”
He had excelled for Norway on international duty between the two tumbles, assisting Erling Haaland twice and scoring once in an 11-1 thrashing of Moldova. It is an annoying setback.
“It was really tough to come off because I was excited to be playing at home again, feeling good after the internationals and really wanting to be out there after coming off in the Leeds United game.”