Arsenal injury update: Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber latest news and return dates
Arsenal still have a number of injury issues persisting as they head into the October international break, including one new key concern.
Manager Mikel Arteta will be hoping that such problems do not get any worse during the fortnight ahead, having seen the likes of influential captain Martin Odegaard hurt while away with his country last month.
Arsenal go into the break sitting third in the Premier League table, behind title rivals Manchester City on goal difference and trailing early pacesetters Liverpool by a solitary point after goals from Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka saw them come from behind to beat Southampton 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Arteta will now look to recover as many players as possible in the days ahead, with a key showdown with Liverpool lurking at the end of the month after meetings with Bournemouth and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Here is all the latest Arsenal injury news, with the Gunners getting a boost this week as both Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasu returned to action.
Kai Havertz
The forward completed 90 minutes against Southampton but will not join up with the Germany squad for the international break due to knee problems.
The German Football Association confirmed on Sunday that Havertz will not be involved in the Nations League games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands.
“Kai Havertz will miss the upcoming international matches due to knee problems,” they said in a statement. Get well soon, Kai!”
Havertz’s fitness will be a concern for Arsenal, who have three important games in eight days against Bournemouth, Shakhtar Donetsk and Liverpool after the international break.
He scored for a fourth successive game in the Southampton win, and Arsenal will hope he is fit after a two-week break.
Potential return date: October 19, vs Bournemouth
Martin Odegaard
Arsenal have been without their inspirational skipper for the last seven matches across all competitions after he suffered “significant” ankle ligament damage while on duty with Norway in the Nations League last month.
Arteta has been positive about his recovery, but reluctant to put an exact time frame on it other than “a matter of weeks” and after the October international break, stating on Friday that Odegaard had shed his walking boot earlier than expected as he strives to return as soon as possible.
“Martin is very difficult, I expected still with the boot and a lot of things and he’s working so hard and is feeling good and is pushing it so it’s difficult to give a timeline,” Arteta said.
However, Odegaard provided an encouraging update of his own on Saturday, writing in the Arsenal matchday programme: “I just wanted to start with the latest on my injury and rehab. In the last week or so I’ve made really good progress.
“I’m getting better and better by the day and feel it’s going well. When you feel like things are moving forward, it gives you motivation to do more and more and work harder. Today is our last game before another international break, so that gives me some more time to work on the rehab too.
“Hopefully, it won’t be much longer; I think we will know more as soon as I get out on the training pitches and we see how my ankle responds to that.
“At the moment it’s progressing well and it looks better than we were thinking, but we’ve still got to take every day as it comes.”
Potential return date: Unknown, potentially late October
Jurrien Timber
Jurrien Timber - who missed almost all of his debut campaign in English football after knee surgery - has been excellent for Arsenal so far this season, demonstrating his valuable versatility by impressing both at left-back and right-back.
However, he has also suffered with knocks and was substituted at half-time of Tuesday night’s Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain after Arteta said he had picked up something muscular.
Timber was omitted from the Netherlands squad for upcoming Nations League matches against Hungary and Germany, though the Arsenal boss suggested on Friday that he could play some part against Southampton before he was ultimately left out.
“We had to modify training for a lot of players,” Arteta had said when discussing Timber, Ben White and Tomiyasu on Friday. “We’ve done the same today because of the load that they had, so it’s a decision to make this afternoon, whether to involve them, yes or no. They are close.”
The fact that Timber was supposedly close to being involved against the Saints suggests that he could well play straight after the break with no international games to focus on before then.
Potential return date: October 19, vs Bournemouth
Ben White
White remained absent against Southampton along with Timber, leading to Arsenal deploying midfielder Thomas Partey as a makeshift right-back at the Emirates.
The former Brighton defender has not featured since being sent on as a half-time substitute in the dramatic 2-2 draw with Manchester City last month, sidelined with a knee issue.
Like Timber, the fact that he was described as being potentially close to being selected against Southampton should hopefully bode well for his chances of featuring immediately after the break.
Potential return date: October 19, vs Bournemouth
Oleksandr Zinchenko
Like Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko has been absent for Arsenal since the 1-1 draw with Brighton in August.
The Ukrainian full-back has been struggling with a calf injury, though Arteta is confident that he will be back in contention after the international break.
"Oleks probably after the international break, if everything goes well, he’s progressing very well," Arteta said on Friday.
Potential return date: October 19, vs Bournemouth
Kieran Tierney
A timeline for Kieran Tierney’s return is still not known after he was stretchered off with a serious hamstring injury while playing for Scotland against Switzerland at Euro 2024 in June.
Such an issue scuppered his chances of leaving Arsenal on a full-time basis after spending last season on loan in Spain with Real Sociedad.
Potential return date: Unknown
