ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta has hinted captain Martin Odegaard could make a surprise return to action in this weekend’s north London derby.

The Gunners make the short trip up the Seven Sisters Road to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Sunday’s eagerly awaited clash. 

Following Odegaard’s injury to his ankle when playing for Norward this week — with initial reports from his international side’s doctor claiming his ankle sprain could rule him out for three weeks — many on the red and white side of the great divide feared the former Real Madrid midfielder would be absent until next month at the earliest.

However, speaking at the club’s training ground on Friday afternoon, Arteta refused to rule out the 25-year-old of the crucial clash at Spurs.

Arteta said: “We need some more tests so let’s see what happens in the next day or so … what the extent of the injury is and how quickly we can get him back. 

“He’s super positive about everything. We know Martin — he wants to be there every single day but we have to wait and see.”

When pressed on whether the injury to Odegaard wasn’t as bad as first thought, Arteta said: “I’ll leave that to the doctor but he’s willing, there’s no question about that. 

“He wants to be present every game and obviously in a big game like this one, but we need to make sure that we know first of all how good he can be or not.”

Arteta also took time to praise new loan signing Raheem Sterling as the Gunners gear up for the huge clash in N17.

The former England international had been deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, prior to his arrival at Arsenal on a season-long loan.

The move across the capital late on transfer deadline day means that Sterling will once again link up with former mentor Arteta, who the 29-year-old had previously worked with at Manchester City.  

On being asked if Sterling could make his debut against Tottenham, Arteta said: “He looks great. First of all, because he’s got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy. He’s at it and wants to prove a point. 

“When someone has got that in their belly, you sense it straight away. I don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team.

“I see his hunger — he’s a player who wants to play every minute of every game, and when that’s not the case, he’s not happy. 

“He loves football, it’s what he likes doing every single day and I see that. His commitment, the level of energy that he’s bringing to the team, and the quality is a big boost.

“You can feel that in the players as well when he walked through the door, we are better with him. He’s going to make us better.”

Arsenal will definitely be without Mikel Merino, with fellow summer signing Riccardo Calafiori also a big doubt.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglu has also given a team news update before the weekend’s big match. 

Yves Bissouma has an issue but the Australian said it was “not serious.” While Micky van de Ven has “trained fully” over the international break and Dominic Solanke is back training with the first team. Richarlison and Will Lankshear remain in rehab.

Speaking about the north London rivalry, the former Celtic boss said: “Every derby is a bit different [with] this one, you can tell it’s fairly intense between the two clubs, geographically situated in the same part of town.

“On the same turf, there’s a little bit of an edge.” He added:  “We know what it means to our supporters and the club. 

“We’ve got to go out there and perform.”