How Arsenal could line up in the north London derby without Martin Odegaard or Declan Rice

Arsenal will be without their dynamic midfield duo for the north London derby against Spurs

Martin Odegaard was injured on international duty for Norway (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal are facing a difficult challenge of travelling to north London rivals Tottenham without their experienced midfield partnership of Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice.

Odegaard limped off with an ankle injury during Norway’s 2-1 win over Austria on Monday night, and was seen boarding a plane in crutches the following morning.

He was consoled by teammate Erling Haaland, who scored the winning goal, although Manchester City could reap the benefit should an injury crisis start to have an affect on Arsenal’s title bid.

Rice has already been ruled out of the game following his red card in the 1-1 draw against Brighton before the international break.

Thomas Partey played in midfield alongside Rice and Odegaard for Arsenal’s opening three matches of the season, but he will have to take a leading role against Tottenham.

Jorginho could play alongside him, but has not played yet this season but did feature regularly for the Gunners last campaign, and played three times for Italy at Euro 2024.

Aside from that pair, Mikel Arteta could have a decision to make over who plays in front of them between Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard.

While Havertz has thrived further up the field in Arsenal’s system, before that he has played as a creative midfielder and could drop further back. Trossard was signed from Brighton in part because of his versatility and ability to play ina number of positions.

Arsenal’s problems are compounded by an injury to new signing Mikel Merino, who joined from Real Sociedad at the end of the transfer window for an initial £28.4m with a further £4.2m in add-ons.

Merino, Odegaard and Rice were meant to form a title-winning trio in the centre of the pitch, but the new signing suffered a fractured shoulder after a collision with Gabriel Magalhaes in his first training session.