Mikel Arteta is remaining tight-lipped on if Martin Odegaard will play for Arsenal against Fulham this weekend.
The influential Gunners captain’s season so far has been hampered by injury, first by a shoulder problem and more recently by knee issues.
Odegaard has returned to start the last three matches but came off early in the second half against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg in midweek due to more knee discomfort.
Arsenal host London rivals Fulham in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening and when asked if his skipper would be available for that game, Arteta replied only at Friday’s pre-match press conference: “Let’s see.”
Kai Havertz has been ruled out of this weekend's match, when Arsenal will have the chance to go six points clear of title rivals Manchester City, who do not travel to Everton until Monday night.
The German has also had injury problems this season, missing the first half of the campaign after undergoing knee surgery.
Havertz was back and set to hand Arsenal a big boost for the run-in. However, he was forced off in the first half of the win over Newcastle last weekend.
That muscular injury is not believed to be a serious one but Fulham's visit comes too soon for the forward.
Arteta did, though, suggest that Havertz could be in contention to face Atletico in the second leg on Tuesday night.
“Kai is desperate to be on the pitch as quickly as possible,” Arteta said.
“He cannot be for this game, but hopefully for Atletico he will be available and he's pushing in every boundary to achieve that.”
Arteta also confirmed that Jurrien Timber would play no part on Saturday evening.
The Dutchman has been on the sidelines since the win over Everton in March and his recovery has proved frustratingly slow for Arsenal.
Arteta said in midweek that Timber was back "doing some stuff" on the grass and in a fresh update on Friday confirmed that the player was still unavailable.
