Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard injury updates ahead of Arsenal vs Bournemouth

Arsenal are likely to be sweating on the fitness of Martin Odegaard ahead of Saturday’s crucial Premier League clash against Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Arsenal skipper only made his comeback from his latest fitness setback against Southampton in last weekend’s FA Cup defeat.

Odegaard started Tuesday’s win against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League but was taken off with 20 minutes remaining in apparent discomfort and replaced by eventual matchwinner Kai Havertz.

The 27-year-old was among a group of players who weren’t spotted in first team training ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Cherries in a fixture that will provide the Gunners with a chance to extend their lead at the top of the table to 12 points, albeit having played two games more than Manchester City who face Chelsea on Sunday.

There was no sign either of Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Piero Hincapie, who all missed the last two games, while Riccardo Calafiori was also absent.

There was, however, more promising news in the shape of Eberechi Eze’s recovery from the calf injury that ruled has ruled him out of action for club and country since the starring role he played in Arsenal’s Champions League last 16 second leg win over Bayer Leverkusen last month.

After initially declaring himself fit after the knock he picked up against the Bundesliga side, Eze was forced to sit out the Wembley final and missed England’s friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

Arsenal feared the summer signing from Crystal Palace could be out of action for up to six weeks, but his presence in training on Thursday afternoon has come as a welcome relief.

Regardless of the personnel available, Mikel Arteta’s side will head into this weekend’s game in a far better frame of mind following the boost provided by Havertz’s crucial late winner in Lisbon.

Speaking on the significance of that morale-boosting victory, Arteta said: ‘It was a big night, a big moment in the season. Especially where we’re coming from. I think we had a point to prove.

‘And yesterday I talked about identity and the things that I wanted to see on that pitch. It certainly happened. Certainly there was a shift there. And then we played our opponent. It’s very tricky, very difficult to play.

‘That’s the reason why they won 17 games in a row here. They haven’t lost for a long, long time and really had to earn it. We had moments of real dominance with a lot of situations in and around the box without creating enough threat sometimes.

‘Lacking to be a bit crispier, the movement a bit sharper, the final ball. But we took the game where we wanted. But after saying that, we knew as well that it’s a team extremely dangerous when they have space to run and they have two situations where David had to intervene in a brilliant way.

‘And then, again, the story of the season, the finish is coming when the most important part of the game is about to happen and then make the difference for us to go and win it.’