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Mikel Arteta explained that a "niggle" kept Ben White out of Arsenal's matchday squad against Fulham on Tuesday night.
The Gunners celebrated their return to Premier League action with a 2-1 victory over the Cottagers which moved them to within nine points of table-toppers Liverpool. The Emirates enjoyed the long-awaited return of Bukayo Saka, who scored seven minutes into his substitute appearance, but there were a couple of fresh injury concerns heading into a pivotal part of the season.
Arsenal saw lynchpin defender Gabriel limp off 16 minutes in due to a hamstring injury, while Jurrien Timber seemed to suffer physically all night before he was withdrawn in the closing stages. The in-game setbacks forced Arteta to use the extremities of his squad, as he wasn't able to call upon Ben White or Riccardo Calafiori.
The English defender was excluded from the matchday squad, and the boss explained why before kick-off.
Mikel Arteta confirms reason Ben White missed Fulham win
Ben White misses out.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 1, 2025
"Ben White misses out," was the simple comment posted by the club on X when Arteta's starting lineup was announced on Tuesday evening.
The ambiguity was soon cleared up by the boss, however, who had this to say on White's absence (via Arsenal's official X account): ”He had a little niggle two days ago. Yesterday we tried, he wasn’t feeling right, so we decided not to put him in the squad today.”
Arteta was asked right at the end of his post-match press conference about the nature of White's setback, to which he responded (via DailyAFC on X): "It was something on his knee."
That update will be of some concern to supporters given that White missed three months of the season after undergoing knee surgery. The full-back hasn't featured all that much since returning to the fold in February, starting just one game. Such niggles are to be expected off the back of surgery, which supposedly fixed a nagging issue, but we've seen Gabriel Jesus struggle mightilly with his knees after he underwent his first surgery in December 2022.
The Brazilian, simply put, hasn't been the same player since.
Arsenal have been dogged by injuries all season, compromising their Premier League title charge, and key injuries in defence may limit their capacity to shun Real Madrid's superstars in the Champions League quarter-finals. We're already without Calafiori for the first leg at least, and I wouldn't be so optimistic over Gabriel's chances.