Bukayo Saka did everything he could in front of goal to drag his side back level after Alexander Isak's early opener, but Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli all failed to make a big impact. Ethan Nwaneri and Gabriel Jesus brought some life to the Gunners off the bench, but they could not find a way through.
In an attempt to deal with Odegaard's absence, Arteta has trialled a number of solutions, with the latest a midfield pivot of Declan Rice and Merino that saw Trossard and Havertz each drop back at different moments. The return of a midfielder is clearly required, though, with Odegaard included.
That scenario playing out looks very close with football.london reporting earlier this week the Norway international is nearing a return to action. Arteta's latest injury update also suggested that was close with the Arsenal boss confirming involvement in team training is firmly on the horizon.
"Now is the stage he is going to start doing certain work with us and just see how he deals with pain, if he is moving naturally enough and if he is physically at the level required to compete," Arteta said on Friday in a press conference.
"But with the work rate and the hours he has put in I would be surprised if the moment he starts training with us we don’t say he is ready so hopefully soon." Being involved in the matchday squad to face Inter in the Champions League next Wednesday looks entirely possible.
Asked about the impact of having him unavailable, Arteta said: "Yeah we don’t have him. We can discuss that all day long. We haven’t had him for the last four or six weeks and we don’t have him yet. But we have many other answers that have been very effective. Today we need to look at ourselves and congratulate Newcastle and move on."
Nwaneri is certainly an option to replace him but it is clear that Arteta does not want the teenager to play too much with his development being carefully managed.
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