Why Martin Odegaard is not in Arsenal squad for Chelsea Carabao Cup clash explained

Martin Odegaard is out of the Arsenal squad for their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg clash against Chelsea as a precaution, football.london understands.

The Gunners captain came off the bench in Saturday's 4-0 win over Leeds United, playing 29 minutes and assisting one. However, on Tuesday, Odegaard was missing from the squad as was Bukayo Saka with the latter limiping out of the warm up ahead of the clash wth Leeds.

Explaining his decision, Arteta said on Sky Sports: "During the (Leeds) game he felt a little niggle. "We tried yesterday but he wasn't comfortable so let's see if he's available for the weekend hopefully."

Addressing Saka's absence, he said: "He's OK, we need to have more tests tomorrow to understand how he is. This game was too (soon) but let's hope that it is not too much."

Mikel Arteta made a number of changes to his side from the weekend's action, bringing Kepa Arrizabalaga, Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Martinelli into the starting XI.

Myles Lewis-Skelly replaces Odegaard on the bench this evening. It's understood the problem is minor, with Arsenal not taking any risks ahead of the Sunderland game on Saturday.

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Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arteta insisted there were no new casualties from the Leeds game, apart from Mikel Merino and Saka. Both players are also out of the squad.

Merino suffered a foot injury and will have 'surgery in the coming days' after the Leeds win. A statement from Arsenal read: "Further to sustaining a foot injury towards the end of our game against Manchester United on January 25, subsequent assessments and specialist reviews have confirmed Mikel Merino has a bone injury in his right foot.

"Mikel will have surgery in the coming days and will then begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme. Mikel is expected to be out of action for an extended period, with the aim of returning to full training before the end of the season.

"Everyone is fully focused on supporting Mikel to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible."

Saka suffered an injury during the warm-up at Elland Road and was replaced by Noni Madueke. He appeared to sustain a hip problem and is out of the squad against Leeds.

football.london understands that Saka is aiming to return to action ahead of the North London Derby on February 22. You can follow our coverage from north London here.

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