Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has told Football.London that defender Benjamin White was substituted due to illness against Leeds United, not injury.
The Gunners eased into the last eight of the Carabao Cup by beating Leeds United 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
Calum Chambers and Eddie Nketiah were on the scoresheet, booking Arsenal’s place in the quarter-finals.
It wasn’t all good news for Arsenal though as White was taken off in the second half.
Chambers went on to replace him, and scored the opening goal just seconds after his introduction.
Arsenal fans will have been fearing the worst about White, but it sounds more positive than expected.
White taken off by Arsenal due to illness, not injury
After the game, Arsenal boss Arteta admitted that Arsenal actually have a bug going around their camp… though it’s not that bug.
Pablo Mari was affected so badly that he missed out on the game entirely, and White was feeling the effects in the second half.
With the summer signing from Brighton struggling, Arteta decided to bring him off and throw Chambers on – a decision that immediately paid dividends.
“No. There is a bug going on,” said Arteta after being asked if White is injured.
“We lost Pablo [Mari] as well today who wasn’t feeling great and Ben had it as well for the last day or two. He wasn’t feeling great so we decided to take him off,” he added.
There will now be real hope that White will bounce back from this illness in the coming days, hopefully in enough time to face Leicester City on Saturday.
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