Mikel Arteta’s side returned to the top of the Premier League with a composed 2-0 win over West Ham, but the afternoon brought fresh concerns as Martin Ødegaard and Declan Rice both limped off before the international break.
The game started brightly, fans excited to see Bukayo Saka, Ødegaard and Eberechi Eze all in the starting line-up together.
It should have been the ideal chance to watch Arteta’s most creative players combine, but it lasted barely half an hour.
Ødegaard, who had shaken off his shoulder problems, clashed knees with a West Ham player and went down shortly after.
He tried to play on but couldn’t. Early signs suggested it could just be patella bruising, and Arsenal will hope he’s ready after the international break, but after the match Mikel Arteta said the captain had his knee in a brace, which is not a great sign.
“I think he had a clash knee-to-knee and immediately he was uncomfortable,” Arteta said in his press conference. “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.”
Asked about Ødegaard’s bad luck with injuries this season, Arteta said, “We haven’t had him since the start of the season for one reason or the other, the shoulder twice and then this injury. So we have to wait and see the extent of that injury.
“We will find solutions but obviously our captain is a player who gives us a completely different dimension with the things that he can do, especially in attack. Let’s wait and hopefully it’s not that bad”
In the second half, with Arsenal already two goals to the good, it was Rice’s turn to worry the medical staff. The former West Ham captain went down pointing his right side and motioned just above his hip during treatment. He was replaced immediately.
It remains unclear whether the problem was the result of an impact or a muscle strain, but he, too, faces further checks before joining up with England. That he was on the bench at the end of the match and not in the treatment room is a good sign.
Asked about the problem, Arteta said, “He’s not all right because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame. He had a pain in his back and he could not carry on which is something very unusual for Declan so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is.”
Before the setbacks, Arsenal had been largely untroubled. Rice gave them a first-half lead against his old club, guiding a precise finish into the net after Eberechi Eze’s shot had been saved.
Saka doubled the advantage after Jurrien Timber was bundled over on the edge of the box, thumping home his penalty with purpose for his first Premier League goal of the season. It was his 100th Premier League goal involvement for the club.
It was also Arsenal’s fourth clean sheet in seven league games, their defensive record now the best in the division with just three goals conceded, along with Crystal Palace, who’ve played only six at the time of writing.
It was also three points picked up from a fixture they lost last season in addition to the three they got at Newcastle last week, where they also lost in 24/25.
The win moved them top ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Chelsea, but with key players nursing fresh knocks, Arteta’s attention will be fixed on the treatment room rather than the table.