{"id":429097,"date":"2026-05-02T18:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/429097\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T18:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:16:09","slug":"why-martin-odegaard-is-not-playing-for-arsenal-vs-fulham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/429097\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Martin Odegaard Is Not Playing for Arsenal vs. Fulham"},"content":{"rendered":"

The welcome sight of Bukayo Saka back in Arsenal\u2019s starting lineup for Saturday\u2019s meeting with Fulham was countered by the absence of captain Martin \u00d8degaard.<\/p>\n

\u00d8degaard only returned from a knee injury in late April and started the team\u2019s last three games across all competitions, completing 90 minutes in the first two before being withdrawn shortly before the hour mark in the 1\u20131 draw with Atl\u00e9tico Madrid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fears were sparked by the sight of him trudging off the pitch in midweek, with his absence on Saturday only adding to the concerns.<\/p>\n

Why Martin \u00d8degaard Is Not in Arsenal\u2019s Matchday Squad\"Martin<\/p>\n

\u00d8degaard left the Atl\u00e9tico game early. | Manu Reino\/DeFodi Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see,\u201d was all the predictably cryptic Mikel Arteta offered when asked about \u00d8degaard\u2019s involvement before the game.<\/p>\n

Reports suggest knee discomfort was behind \u00d8degaard\u2019s withdrawal against Atl\u00e9tico, which is a significant concern given the Norway international has only just returned from a knee problem that forced him to miss over a month of action.<\/p>\n

This is actually the third knee injury of the season for \u00d8degaard, who missed nearly two months across October and November. Whether any are linked has not been made public.<\/p>\n

All in all, this is the seventh injury of the season for \u00d8degaard, who has struggled horribly with fitness problems and has been restricted to just 15 Premier League starts.<\/p>\n

Fifteen players have managed more minutes than \u00d8degaard for Arsenal<\/a> this season, including Eberechi Eze, who takes his place in the starting lineup for Saturday\u2019s game against Fulham.<\/p>\n

\u00d8degaard: Arsenal on Cusp of Something Big\"Martin<\/p>\n

\u00d8degaard has high hopes for the end of the season. | Julian Finney\/UEFA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u00d8degaard conducted a lengthy interview for the matchday program for Saturday\u2019s game, offering no suggestions that he would not be fit enough to play.<\/p>\n

Instead, the captain chose to focus on the atmosphere around Arsenal as the team continue to fight for major silverware in the late stages of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the final whistle on Wednesday we\u2019ve been looking forward to today\u2019s game and concentrating on how we can get the three points,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy is great at the training ground right now. I think everyone is feeling that we’re close to something really big and that gives you a bit of extra energy and extra fire every day in your work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a good result last weekend in our last game here at Emirates Stadium against Newcastle. It was an intense, tough game and the main thing was always to get the win and we managed that well. It’s always tough to play against Newcastle, they are a very physical and organised side. Obviously they have quality as well, so there’s going to be periods where they have the ball, but I thought we did well to get over the line and take another three points in a big game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage of the season it\u2019s great to be able to rely on our defensive record, so it was important to keep another clean sheet. That\u2019s a big strength we have\u2014we know that we’re so solid at the back and the clean sheet is always big in this league because it gives you a great chance of winning the game. That\u2019s what happened last weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we would like to have scored a few more goals, but the main thing was to get the win and we got that.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ THE LATEST ARSENAL NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The welcome sight of Bukayo Saka back in Arsenal\u2019s starting lineup for Saturday\u2019s meeting with Fulham was countered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-429097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}