Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard gives fans surprise injury update as he outlines timeline for return from ankle problem that has kept him on the sidelines for a month

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has delivered an injury update as he continues to work on his recovery from ankle ligament damage.

The midfielder limped off in the second half of his country’s 2-1 win over Austria in the Nations League during the last international break in worrying signs for Gunners supporters and hasn’t played since. 

Scans revealed that Odegaard suffered ‘significant’ ligament damage and would be out for a sustained period of time.

The club have remained coy on providing a timeline for his return but Odegaard has given supporters some positive news. 

Commenting in this weekend’s Arsenal matchday programme ahead of Sunday’s win over Southampton, Odegaard said: ‘I just wanted to start with the latest on my injury and rehab. In the last week or so I’ve made really good progress.

‘I’m getting better and better by the day and feel it’s going well. When you feel like things are moving forward, it gives you motivation to do more and more and work harder. 

‘Today is our last game before another international break, so that gives me some more time to work on the rehab too.

‘Hopefully, it won’t be much longer; I think we will know more as soon as I get out on the training pitches and we see how my ankle responds to that.

‘At the moment it’s progressing well and it looks better than we were thinking, but we’ve still got to take every day as it comes.’

Arsenal have performed well in the absence of their skipper with five wins and two draws in the seven matches he has missed.

Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Saints saw them head into the international break just one point behind Premier League leaders Liverpool. 

The visiting side took a shock lead in the second half but the Gunners hit back through goals from Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. 

Odegaard suffered ankle ligament damage on international duty with Norway last month

Speaking after the match, manager Mikel Arteta was clearly very happy with his team’s display. 

He said: ‘first half I thought it was exceptional. The amount of dominance that we had in the areas that we played, the amount of situations and chances we created in open play and set pieces, our counter-press worked really well there. It’s unbelievable that we didn’t score a goal.

‘Then we started the second half, we were a bit sloppy, especially in the first 5-10 minutes with the ball and then the game became a little more open. 

‘Then the chance they had, they scored the goal, and then again, we’ve thrown everything away that we did in the first half. It was a completely brand-new game in a really difficult context and the team reacted incredibly well with a lot of composure; big belief, very good clarity in what we had to do. The crowd were exceptional, the subs were exceptional and we managed to win again.’