Martin Odegaard's clear target for Arsenal injury return in dream Mikel Arteta scenario

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Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard will hope to be back from injury in late November with huge games against Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea to come

Martin Odegaard will be eager to return from a knee injury in November for one of Arsenal's biggest games of the season. The Gunners captain has been plagued by issues over the last few months with his latest problem expected to keep him out for the next five weeks at least.

A shoulder injury had already resulted in him playing limited minutes during the first few weeks of the campaign and his early withdrawal in the 2-0 win over West Ham United was the third consecutive time he had been forced off in the first half of an Arsenal game in the Premier League at Emirates Stadium.

He later pulled out of the Norway squad to undergo further tests on his knee at London Colney with the results of those now seemingly revealed. According to a report from BBC Sport, he is to remain unavailable until after the November international break.

Those claims align with the understanding at football.london that the 26-year-old was expected to miss between four to six weeks because of an MCL injury.

Odegaard will therefore miss trips to Fulham, Burnley, Slavia Prague and Sunderland alongside home games against Atletico Madrid, Crystal Palace and Brighton across three different competitions. Thankfully for Mikel Arteta, he has three more than suitable options that can cover for his absence.

Summer signing Eberechi Eze is the most natural replacement and is expected to be deployed in one of the advanced No.8 roles at Fulham this weekend. Following his positional shift, Ethan Nwaneri is another who can fill in while Mikel Merino is also capable of thriving in an advanced midfield role.

Given his influence, Arteta will want Odegaard back as soon as possible and his anticipated return may be just in time for the North London Derby against Tottenham. The visit of Spurs to Emirates Stadium arrives on Sunday, November 23 which is coincidentally the first game back from the final two-week domestic pause of 2025.

With two weeks to potentially prepare for that clash, Arteta's dream scenario will be that Odegaard trains out on the grass for a number of days in the lead up so that he is capable of featuring.

A start seems highly unlikely given his lengthy lay-off and lack of match sharpness. However, a cameo off the bench is more than plausible with Odegaard likely keen to continue his good record against Tottenham having scored twice and picked up one assist in eight appearances against the Lilywhites.

If he is unable to return for that game, the hope will be that he is back available the week after that with games against Bayern Munich and Chelsea on Arsenal's schedule.

Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz are other key Arsenal stars targeting November returns after both suffering knee injuries. The latter has played just 31 minutes this season while the summer arrival from Chelsea had been deployed regularly in the absence of Bukayo Saka.