Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has been withdrawn from Norway’s squad for their upcoming international matches after injuring his left knee against West Ham.The 26-year-old will miss Norway’s World Cup qualifier against Israel (11 October) and friendly against New Zealand (14 October) having sustained a medial collateral ligament injury.He will remain at Arsenal for assessment and treatment, with no timeline yet for his return to action.Declan Rice, however, who picked up a back injury in the same match, will report for England duty as expected.Odegaard set an unwanted record on Saturday when he became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted before half-time in three consecutive starts.He came off early in victories against Leeds and Nottingham Forest because of an ongoing shoulder issue.Against West Ham, he was withdrawn after 30 minutes following what manager Mikel Arteta described as a “knee-to-knee” collision with opposition forward Crysencio Summerville.Speaking after the game, Arteta said: “I just spoke to him. He’s not positive about it. He’s got a brace on. We’ll have to wait and see from the doctors, but we haven’t been very lucky with that either.”We haven’t had him since the start of the season for one reason or the other. The shoulder twice and then this injury.”We’ll have to wait and see the extent of that injury, and we’ll find solutions, but obviously he’s our captain and is a player that gives us a completely different dimension with the things that he can do, especially in attacking.”
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Martin Odegaard: Arsenal captain out of Norway squad with knee injury
