Martin Ødegaard
Martin Ødegaard
An X-ray that finds nothing dramatic is still not a training session. Pictures show a snapshot. The joint has to prove it on grass.
Clubs live for that distinction in international weeks. Worst-case scans change the month. Sore ankles change the weekend.
Thursday in Cardiff will decide which version this is.
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Norway team doctor Ola Sand scanned Martin Odegaard’s ankle on Tuesday and found no serious damage after Bernardo Silva’s late challenge in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Portugal. The Arsenal captain missed Tuesday’s session and remains a doubt for Wales.
Brede Hangeland, Norway’s assistant coach, said: “Ola Sand has that under control. As far as I understood, there was nothing dramatic in those [X-ray] images. The most important thing is that the guy is feeling better. The images show a snapshot, while he’s still recovering. And the progress is positive.”
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He added: “Martin was in the breakfast room, he was happy and he had less pain in his ankle than yesterday. It is a long time until the next match. It is a full two and a half days. A lot can happen in that time.”
Stale Solbakken has said medical contact with Arsenal is almost continuous and that every metre of running is logged back to the club. Arteta’s staff have not needed to pull him home.
Odegaard told TV2 after the Portugal game that Silva “just kicked me down long after I had played the ball away” and that the challenge “doesn’t belong on a football field.” He expected a bad night and hoped it would settle in a few days. The scan supports the hopeful half of that.
Kai Havertz is already back at London Colney with a suspected hamstring. Ezri Konsa sat unused for England after “minor issues.” Jurrien Timber has been managed through ten minutes for the Netherlands. A clean X-ray on the captain is the best piece of that list.
Norway play Wales on Thursday and Portugal in Porto on Sunday. Arsenal face Leeds on 10 October. Selection in Cardiff is still open. No return date has been set for full training at the club.
Nothing dramatic on the images removes a lengthy lay-off. It does not guarantee 90 minutes this week. Until he trains and finishes a session, Arsenal will treat him as improving rather than cleared.
Arsenal corner flag
Arsenal corner flag