Arsenal's head coach Mikel Arteta appeared at a press conference to discuss tomorrow's match against Fulham in the eighth round of the Premier League at Craven Cottage.

He began by addressing Odegaard's injury: "He will be out for weeks, but there is no specific date for his return yet. He is recovering well and has been unlucky this season with injuries. We will see how the situation develops and how his knee responds during the next stages of rehabilitation; it is too early to set a final date."

He added: "I think he is in a very good mental state. What happened was frustrating, but the positive thing is that he is doing everything he can to avoid injuries. The injuries he has suffered are of the type that are difficult to avoid, which eases the pressure on him a bit."

He emphasized: "He cannot have a different mentality; he is the captain. He has to raise the standards, be a role model, and bring a sense of responsibility to the team. When you are a father, you have no choice but to be there all the time, no matter how tired you are, and that is his responsibility within the team."

Regarding the return of Kai Havertz: "He is now in the final stages of recovery and may return ahead of schedule. He still has some work to do, but he is pushing himself hard — and that is what we love about him. We just have to protect him and make sure that when he returns, he is ready for the long term."

On the condition of some players: "Zubimendi has played a lot of matches recently, and we have to manage the workload, so we decided to give him an extra day off, and he will be ready, as will Ben White. Mudryk is getting closer to returning and will start running soon; we will see how things go."

About Piero Hincapié returning from injury: "What you will see from him is enthusiasm and determination. He is a player who fights for every ball, especially defensively. With the ball, whether he plays as a left center-back or a full-back, he is very clean in his passing and movements. He is good at breaking through with or without the ball and will provide a different character and new energy to the team."

He continued about Gabriel Martinelli after his impressive performance with Brazil: "He is doing what we expect from everyone. He has gotten game minutes and the opportunity to make an impact on performance and results. I am very happy about his going to the national team and scoring goals there. These are positive signs because when players return from the national team in a good spirit and high confidence, everything becomes easier."

On Arsenal's defensive solidity (conceding only 3 goals in 10 matches): "This is a foundation on which we build performance and results, without a doubt. We want to maintain this defensive level consistently. It depends on how we attack and how committed everyone is to what needs to be done. If we continue with this approach, it will give us a great chance to achieve our goals."

He concluded: "We have done a lot of positive things recently; we have gone through two different phases, and in the second, we had to increase the team's readiness due to some absences, and we succeeded wonderfully. We have also developed some aspects to make us more diverse, harder to predict, and more defensively stable. We have reached a new level, and the challenge now is to maintain it and develop it further in the next phase."