Three ways Arsenal can line up without Martin Odegaard as captain set for extended spell out

Mikel Arteta will be forced to try out different combinations in midfield for Arsenal's matches against Atalanta and Manchester City, with Martin Odegaard out injured

Three ways Arsenal can line up without Martin Odegaard as captain set for extended spell out

Arsenal will be without their captain Martin Odegaard for an extremely busy period of fixtures.

Odegaard limped off with a sprained ankle while playing for Norway in the last international break and Mikel Arteta has now confirmed that he will be out for “a while”. That would be a significant blow for the Gunners at any time, let alone ahead of a glut of matches across all competitions.

Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign against Atalanta on Thursday night in Bergamo before their toughest Premier League game of the season, away to Manchester City, on Sunday. Three days later, they face Bolton in the third round of the Carabao Cup before hosting Leicester in the league on Saturday.

Arteta said he was hopeful that Odegaard won’t be out for “months” but it’s clear that in the short-term, Arsenal will have to do without him. "After recent scans the scans showed that he’s got some damage especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle,” Arteta explained. “It’s something quite significant so we’re going to lose him for a while."

The Norwegian playmaker contributed 11 goals and 11 assists in 48 games across all competitions last season and was absolutely key to everything the team did. That is not easy to replace, but thankfully, Arteta does have some options.

The most obvious – and therefore most likely – is the fix that he employed in the North London Derby against Tottenham on Sunday. That saw Kai Havertz drop into the most advanced midfield role and Leandro Trossard come into the side as a free-roaming No.9, although in practice the two swapped positions with regularity.

Arsenal will be boosted by the return of Declan Rice, who missed the Spurs game through suspension after being sent off against Brighton. He will start in midfield against Atalanta, either instead of Jorginho or Thomas Partey, or alongside them in a more defensively-minded trio.

The signing of Raheem Sterling on deadline day gives Arteta more depth in forward positions, which is about to come in handy. While the sale of Eddie Nketiah leaves Gabriel Jesus as the only out-and-out centre-forward, the arrival of Sterling does provide more options, with the Chelsea loanee capable of filling in on either flank, or as a withdrawn No.9.

Over the past two seasons, Arteta has shown himself not to be a big fan of rotation for rotation’s sake, but the back-to-back away games against Atalanta and City leaves him with little choice. He may well give Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli a rest from the bench in Italy.

HAVE YOUR SAY! What's the best option for Mikel Arteta while Martin Odegaard is unavailable? Comment below.

Those two matches are not ones for experimentation, but the upcoming game against Bolton could well be. Cesc Fabregas has called for Trossard to drop into the midfield three, while also touting the potential of Ethan Nwaneri to do the job. "I have no doubts that if Mikel puts him [Nwaneri] in the starting XI or even during the game it’s because he has seen that he’s good enough to make an impact,” Fabregas said.

Nwaneri came off the bench in the derby and another academy star, Myles Lewis-Skelly, provides another central midfield option for the Bolton game. Another thing worth noting is that Odegaard’s absence could be compensated for by Arsenal’s chosen style of play, without a direct replacement being needed.

Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jurrien Timber are tasked with stepping into the base of midfield when Arsenal are building up from the back. That extra man when in possession could allow Arteta to play with two central midfielders and still have an extra body in the middle of the pitch.

Again, he is very unlikely to make a bold tactical adjustment like that against Atalanta or City, but it could be viable for lower-key fixtures. Instead it is clear that the positional flexibility of Havertz, Trossard and Sterling – and perhaps Timber and Zinchenko – should help Arteta plug the gap left by Odegaard in the coming weeks.

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