Mikel Arteta is not expecting Martin Odegaard to be back playing for Arsenal until after the international break as he continues to recover from an ankle injury. Having missed the past three matches following a knock picked up whilst away with Norway, he remains sidelined.

Odegaard is one of several players to be out for the Carabao Cup clash against Bolton on Wednesday. There is hope that the club captain can be back by the end of October though with Arteta not ruling out a return before the next set of international fixtures.

Arsenal have four games in all competitions before that. As well as Bolton, they host Leicester at the weekend, take on Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and then welcome Southampton before another two weeks off from club football.

The last game before the international break is on October 5, which would only give Odegaard just over 10 days to get back to fitness. Arteta is hopeful that he will be back sooner rather than later though.

“I think it will be a matter of weeks, but how long exactly I cannot tell,” he said ahead of the Bolton match. “We might get a surprise but I think it’s unlikely he’ll be back before the international break.”

Odegaard is yet to be part of training since his unfortunate injury playing for his country. It appeared that Arsenal were keen to keep his left foot hidden recently as well after placing a ball in front of him for the club’s 2024/25 squad photo.

Odegaard had previously only missed six league games since joining Arsenal. Of the 114 matches played in that time he started 104 of them. In the 35 he started last season only three times did he come off the pitch before 85 minutes.

There are more pressing worries for Arteta ahead of facing League One Bolton. Oleksandr Zinchenko remains out and there are questions over the fitness of Ben White, Jurrien Timber, and Riccardo Calafiori.

The head coach didn’t rule anyone but Odegaard and Zinchenko out specifically but didn’t have positive news to bring either. “I always prefer the facts to words than supposing things,” he said. “Let’s see who is available tomorrow and then we can talk about dark arts.

“Unfortunately there will be a few players not available. Tomorrow you will find out.” On David Raya, he added: “Let’s see how they are today. We’ll try to make a call on that if we believe that’s a possibility.”