Arsenal return from the international break with a trip to Bournemouth this weekend, still without captain Martin Odegaard who remains injured until November.

The Gunners have been without their skipper for four league games so far this season, managing to pick up three wins and a draw, including a 1-0 win at Tottenham and a 2-2 draw at Manchester City.

Kai Havertz has been the man to plug the gap in his absence, playing a slightly different second striker role, working particularly well with Leandro Trossard and picking up two goals in the process.

But is it enough to replace Odegaard?

Since the start of the last Premier League season, the captain has missed seven games with a slight drop-off in production by the team without him.

With Odegaard, the Gunners have scored 2.38 goals in 39 games since the start of last season, compared to 2.16 goals in the seven games without.

It’s a small sample size but the number of shots has gone up from 16.49 to 16.86 without Odegaard.

The main difficulty without Odegaard is when Arsenal come up against deep blocks, losing a player who can thread the needle and play creative passes into the front line.

Instead, with Havertz, Arsenal play with more of a front two, looking to play more directly and find Havertz in the box either to play off or to score.

However, before the end of November, the Gunners visit Bournemouth, entertain Liverpool at Emirates Stadium, then travel to Newcastle, Chelsea and West Ham United which means they aren’t likely to face many in Odegaard’s absence, softening the blow.

Losing a player of that quality is always going to be difficult, but the circumstances for Arsenal may have fallen favourably.

For the cup games, Ethan Nwaneri could be a good option for Mikel Arteta as the closest approximation to Odegaard in the midfield.

With Shakhtar Donetsk at home in the Champions League and a trip to Preston North End in the Carabao Cup, it may be worth throwing the teenager in after some impressive cameos to rotate with Havertz.

The Gunners face 13th-placed Bournemouth at 5.30pm on Saturday, looking to make it three league wins in a row.

*Bukayo Saka limped off during England's 2-1 home defeat to Greece in the Nations League at Wembley last Thursday.

Saka did not travel to Finland as a result, but Arsenal teammate Declan Rice was on target in a 3-1 win on Sunday.