Mikel Arteta opened up on Arsenal’s injury setbacks, confirming that Martin Odegaard is benched “for a number of weeks”as  reported by Daily star.co.uk.

Odegaard missed the Gunners’ classic with Manchester City over the weekend, following an ankle injury caught while on international duty. Arteta said last week that his skipper took a “significant” hit but today gave a rough timeline for his return to action.

Oleksandr Zinchenko’s calf woes also mean he’ll be out for a decent stint, Arteta revealed. While there’s no set comeback date for midfield maestro Odegaard, Arteta said: “I think it will be a matter of weeks. How long exactly, I cannot tell you.”

He chucked cold water on hopes of Odegaard bouncing back pre-next month’s international break, saying: “We might get a surprise but I think it’s unlikely.”, reports the Mirror.

Elsewhere, the Gunners boss fiercely defended his squad’s strategic play in Sunday’s stalemate at City – but he was tight-lipped on the City stars’ moaning about Arsenal’s so-called mastery of “the dark arts” during the match at the Etihad Arsenal had almost held onto a famous point at the Etihad, before John Stones bundled the ball home in the 97th minute.

Ahead of tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup clash with Bolton, a defiant Mikel Arteta addressed his team’s newly found game management skills while deftly side-stepping any critiques aimed at his savvy Gunners: “Well, we had to play the game that we had to play.”