Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he was still waiting for a precise timeframe on Martin Odegaard’s recovery from ankle ligament damage.
Scans revealed Arsenal’s captain sustained “significant” damage when he was injured while playing for Norway this month.
He will miss the English Premier League match with Manchester City on Sunday, and Arteta said he did not know when the playmaker would be available again.
“We need to see the development in the next week or so, how the ankle reacts first of all and then the staff will give me an update on the timeframe and how long he’ll be out for,” Arteta said on Friday.
City could be without Kevin de Bruyne for the match at Etihad Stadium after appearing to strain himself before halftime of Wednesday’s Champions League match against Inter Milan.
Guardiola did not rule out the Belgian, saying he felt “a little better.”
De Bruyne’s fitness will be assessed in training on Saturday.
The Manchester City and Arsenal clash is already being billed as a pivotal moment in the title race even though the Premier League season is only four rounds in.
The two teams have been battling it out for the past two seasons with Pep Guardiola’s City triumphant on both occasions as they stretched their run to an unprecedented four in a row.
Nothing in the opening salvos of the new campaign suggests it will be any different this time, although many are predicting that Arsenal can finally break City’s stranglehold and a positive result on Sunday would be a psychological boost.
Mikel Arteta’s men managed to stop City from scoring twice last season, but still could not deny the English champions a record fourth consecutive Premier League title.
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