Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that Ben White simply ‘didn’t look right’ in training before facing Burnley.
Arsenal defender Ben White missed out on Saturday’s win over Burnley after suffering some discomfort in training.
That is according to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who has been speaking to Football London after another Gunners victory.
Leandro Trossard fired Arsenal ahead before Josh Brownhill hauled Burnley level, threatening to make this a difficult afternoon.
Arsenal did find the win though as William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko scored from Gunners corners to seal a 3-1 win.
Mikel Arteta comments on Arsenal defender Ben White
Arsenal had to win this game without defender Ben White, who wasn’t even on the bench against Burnley.
Arteta has now admitted that White ‘wasn’t comfortable’ in training on Friday and ‘didn’t look right’ ahead of the Burnley game.
Arteta noted that White ‘wants to hide’ any injury problems he suffers but Arsenal’s medical team flagged up a problem which has been present for a couple of weeks now.
Arsenal left White out and will now assess him today in the hope of avoiding another major injury problem.
“Yesterday in training he wasn’t comfortable,” said Arteta. “He didn’t look right. But Ben won’t give you much. He always wants to be on the pitch and he wants to hide anything that is in there. But we highlighted something happening there that we noticed in the last two weeks as well. We wanted to protect him today. It was the right call from the physios and the medical department and tomorrow we will assess him and understand what’s happening,” he added.
Arsenal can’t afford to lose White amid injury woes
The last thing Arsenal need right now is another injury problem.
The Gunners are already without the likes of Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah.
Emile Smith Rowe and Jurrien Timber are out too, whilst Fabio Vieira picked up a red card against Burnley on Saturday.
Add in a concern for Gabriel Martinelli and Arsenal really need some positive news on White’s injury.
Arteta will hope that it’s nothing serious and that White will be ready to go after the international break.
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