Arsenal have four doubts for West Ham amid Odegaard and Jesus update

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has claimed the Carabao Cup is a competition the Gunners are taking seriously this season. The north Londoners travel to West Ham United on Wednesday looking to reach the quarter-final stage for the first time since 2020.

The game has been earmarked as an opportunity for Arteta to rest some of his key players amid their tight schedule.

Arsenal have already played three games since the October international break and still have four more games until the next.

Saturday's 5-0 win over Sheffield United extended their unbeaten start in the Premier League, though they were missing key figures due to injury.

Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey all missed the game, handing Arteta a huge blow.

The triple injury blow has resulted in calls for the Gunners to rotate for their trip to the London Stadium. However, Arteta has kept his cards close to his chest. "We just have to beat West Ham," he said. "It's a competition that we have the chance to progress and win a trophy and our mindset has to be focused on West Ham."

He added: "The context is a bit different because we've picked up some injuries and we don't have so much availability in terms of the squad. But we prepare for the game the same way we did there (Brentford) and try to win it."

Arteta was asked about Odegaard after the Norwegian playmaker only made the bench over the weekend. "We rested him the other day and now it is about how long we rest him and how we manage the minutes and the rhythm he needs to be at his best," Arteta explained.

Asked if his absence in the week is just a case of resting Odegaard, he added: "It is not only that. There are a lot of things that you have to do, it is impossible to play with no niggles in football at this level when you have games every three days.

"It is impossible, if you try to do that you are better to stay in bed because I don't know any players that are constantly perfect and in the best possible condition so you have to adapt to that."

Arteta also refused to provide a time frame over Jesus' injury. The striker suffered a hamstring injury in last week's Champions League win over Sevilla after scoring and assisting. "With him I am not going to put any (time frame) because I did it once and I got it totally wrong," the Gunners boss said."We need to be cautious because we need to treat him in the right way but he is already pushing everybody, he wants to be back as quickly as possible and we need him so that is great."

Finally, Thomas Partey is expected to be out for a number of weeks. The midfielder picked up a thigh injury in training last week. "I think that he will be out for weeks, I don’t know how long but he’s got another appointment today and we will see more after that," Arteta confirmed.

Defender Jurrien Timber is Arsenal's long-term absentee having suffered an ACL injury in the 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest on the opening day of the season.