Martin Odegaard is very likely to get hurt in the North London Derby after limping off in tears while on international service.

As it is, Declan Rice, a key defender for Arsenal, will already not be able to play because he got a red card against Brighton.

Now, the Gunners manager is worried about how fit his captain is, which could be another bitter blow.

Odegaard, who is 25 years old, led Norway against Austria in the Nations League Group B3 match.

But he was in a lot of pain just after an hour after rolling his left ankle in what seemed like a harmless 50-50 battle for possession.

Odegaard fell to the ground instantly, clutching the joint and writhing in pain as replays showed how bad the seemingly harmless incident with Christoph Baumgartner really was.

The worried Norway manager Stale Solbakken said it looked “painful” when asked by the media after the game.

“It looked painful in the locker room too,” he said.

“He was sitting with the physiotherapists and couldn’t go on.” We know he hurt his ankle.

“And people who have played football know that things can go well if the ligaments aren’t torn.”

“But I’m not sure Mikel Arteta will call me tonight to praise me.”

As the TV cameras cut to the crowd, Helene Spilling, Odegaard’s girlfriend, looked on worried.

Physiotherapists treated the playmaker on the pitch while he held his head in his hands. He then slowly and sobfully walked off, with the help of the doctors because he could barely put any weight on his left foot.

Baumgartner said sorry for the contact, but the RB Leipzig forward wasn’t to blame for the injury because he wasn’t involved in the real fight for the ball.

Erling Haaland tried to make his teammate feel better as the star walked off.

As it turns out, though, the accident might help Haaland’s chances of winning the title.

On Sunday afternoon, Arsenal plays at Spurs. Their first winners League game is next Thursday away at Atalanta, and on September 22, they play the winners at the Etihad.

And the worry that they won’t have their important captain is now very real.

Rice can’t play against Tottenham because he is suspended, and new midfielder Mikel Merino can’t play because he broke his shoulder in his first training session with the Gunners.

And if Odegaard can’t play in the game either, Arteta will have to try new things.

Thomas Partey, Jorginho, and bringing in Kai Havertz could be the most likely choice. The boss probably won’t choose the inexperienced Myles Lewis-Skelly or Ethan Nwaneri for such a big game.

Also, Arteta’s international break has already cost him a lot: new defender Riccardo Calafiori got hurt in a strange way and had to leave the Italy camp because of it.

Marcel Sabitzer, who used to be on loan from Manchester United, cancelled out Felix Horn Myhre’s opening goal in Oslo.

A long VAR check showed that Haaland was onside ten minutes before the end of the game, but he scored to win it.