BREAKING: Arsenal suffer injury blow with Martin Odegaard forced off against Nottingham Forest

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was forced off against Nottingham Forest following what appeared to be a recurrence of his shoulder injury. Odegaard, 26, looked to jar his shoulder after Jurrien Timber's tackle on Morgan Gibbs-White inadvertently brought the Norwegian midfielder down.

Odegaard was making his first start for Arsenal since August 23, when he injured his shoulder in the first half of the Gunners' 5-0 win at home to Leeds. The Gunners skipper managed 20 minutes the following week at Liverpool, as their title chances were dented with a 1-0 defeat.

Odegaard then played 45 minutes of Norway's 1-0 victory in a friendly with Finland before playing the full game against Moldova. The 26-year-old starred as Norway thrashed their opponents 11-1, with Odegaard scoring one of the goals and assisting two.

Mikel Arteta had no hesitation starting Odegaard against Forest in Saturday's early kick-off. But the former Real Madrid wonderkid only lasted 18 minutes and he's now a serious doubt for their huge games against Athletic Bilbao and Manchester City next week.

Timber and Gibbs-White went sliding in for the ball, which Odegaard was also looking to win. Although Timber came away with it, Odegaard went flying and landed awkwardly on his right shoulder, immediately yelping in pain.

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After receiving treatment, Odegaard soldiered on for 10 minutes before having to come off. Ethan Nwaneri was brought on to replace him, tasked with unlocking Forest's stubborn defence.

But it was another midfielder who broke the deadlock. Martin Zubimendi showed why Arsenal paid £55.8million for him, as he unleashed a thunderous strike on the volley from the edge of the penalty area that flew past Matz Sels via a slight deflection.

After the goal, Forest were forced into making a change of their own. Murillo, who'd been injured in the collision that led to the corner, was replaced by deadline-day signing Nicolo Savona.

How badly would Arsenal miss Martin Odegaard? Have your say in the comments section.

Before kick-off, Mikel Arteta revealed the first bad news on the injury front. Arsenal defender William Saliba was ruled out, still feeling the effects of rolling his ankle in the warm-up against Liverpool.

Having pulled out of the France squad, 24-year-old Saliba was expected to be out for weeks. But there was surprise when Arteta confirmed that the French defender had returned to training this week.

"He trained yesterday, but at the end of the session he wasn't fully ready to start the game," the Gunners boss told TNT Sports.

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