Mikel Arteta wants to ‘protect’ Ben White after not picking him in win over Burnley as he reveals the Arsenal defender has been playing with an injury for the last few weeks

• Ben White was absent from Arsenal’s weekend 3-1 home win against Burnley
• The Gunners star was left out of the squad to deal with an ongoing injury
• DOMINIC KING: I don’t understand what football is anymore – It’s All Coming Up

Mikel Arteta revealed Ben White has been ‘hiding’ an injury and trying to play through the pain barrier in recent weeks after Arsenal’s win over Burnley on Saturday.

White missed Arsenal’s weekend hosting of Vincent Kompany’s Burnley side as he was left out of the team by Arteta who wanted to give the player sufficient time to recover from his issue.

The Arsenal manager fortunately didn’t need White as his side ran out comfortable 3-1 winners against a Burnley side in a torrid run of form and sitting in the Premier League’s relegation zone.

White had previously started every one of Arsenal’s fixtures in the English top-flight season, but he could now be set for a prolonged spell on the sidelines.

Arteta kept the specifics of White’s injury tightly-sealed, but did explain the full-back would undergo an assessment to determine the severity of his injury.

Ben White missed Arsenal’s weekend Premier League victory against Burnley at the Emirates

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta revealed the defender had been trying to hide his problem in recent weeks

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 ‘Yesterday [Friday] in training he wasn’t comfortable, he didn’t look right,’ explained Arteta when asked about White’s absence against Burnley.

‘But Ben won’t give you much. He always wants to be on the pitch and he wants to hide anything that is there.

‘But we highlighted that we noticed in the last few weeks as well something happening there and we wanted to protect him today.

‘It was the right call from the physios, the medical department, and tomorrow we will assess him and understand what’s happening.’

The announcement comes in the same week that White was left out of England’s upcoming squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

White hasn’t been involved in an England team since he departed last year’s Qatar World Cup early on personal grounds.

White will have to undergo an assessment to determine the severity of his latest injury

White had started every Premier League match for Arsenal this season prior to Saturday

There was further injury concern for Arsenal in their recent weekend win when Italian midfielder Jorginho was also forced off.

However, Arteta explained afterwards that the former Chelsea star should be fine.

‘He had a few bad cuts I think so they could not sort it out on the pitch so they decided to take him out. Hopefully he is fine.

‘I think he was really good again today, the way this guy is competing, coaching and supporting the team in every way, I am really happy with him.’ 

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