Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta is hopeful that Martin Odegaard will be back in action after the international break after he sat out the Gunners' 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners captain has only made it onto the field in one of his side's last five matches in all tournaments, scoring a consolation goal in a 3-1 loss to West Ham United in the EFL Cup fourth round.
Prior to that late cameo, Odegaard was an unused substitute in a 5-0 win over Sheffield United due to a hip injury, and he has now missed three successive meetings with Newcastle United, Sevilla and Burnley.
The 24-year-old has been called up to the Norway squad for November's internationals against the Faroe Islands and Scotland, but Lions manager Stale Solbakken has conceded that he is "worried" about Odegaard's fitness.
Asked for an update on his skipper's condition in Saturday's post-match press conference, Arteta revealed that he was due to speak with the medical team after the game and is hopeful that Odegaard will be back in action once the international break is over.
"I don't know. I'm going to have a meeting now with the medical department to understand everybody's situation and I think he is going to be back after the international break but I don't know exactly what the decision is and the communication at the moment," arsenal.com quotes Arteta as saying.
Odegaard was one of seven first-team players to miss the visit of the Clarets, as long-term injury victims Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus, Jurrien Timber and Emile Smith Rowe took their places on the sidelines.
Cedric Soares was unavailable due to illness, while his fellow right-back Ben White was also unable to make the cut, and Arsenal did not provide a reason for his absence while naming their starting lineup.
The 26-year-old was believed to have been carrying a knock towards the end of Wednesday's Champions League win over Sevilla, although Arteta revealed that the medical team had spotted something not quite right a few weeks ago.
The Spaniard did not go into specifics about White's issue, but he affirmed that he wanted to "protect" his first-choice right-back, and the club will delve deeper into his problem on Sunday.
"Yesterday in training he wasn't comfortable, he didn't look right, but Ben won't give you much, he always wants to be on the pitch and always wants to hide anything that is in there, but we highlighted it, we noticed in the last few weeks as well something in there, and we wanted to protect him today," Arteta added.
"It was the right call from the physios and the medical department and tomorrow we will assess him and understand what's happening."
Arsenal broke Burnley's resistance in first-half injury time, as Leandro Trossard headed in the Gunners' 1,000th Emirates goal before Josh Brownhill equalised nine minutes into the second half.
However, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko ended Burnley's hopes of a positive result before Fabio Vieira was given a straight red card for catching Brownhill's knee with his studs - a decision which Arteta labelled "really good".
The Gunners have risen above Tottenham Hotspur into second place in the table following their rivals' 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers and return to action away to London rivals Brentford on November 25. body check tags ::
