Mikel Arteta confirmed Ben White will be sidelined for \u201cmany, many weeks,\u201d a blow that effectively rules the right back out for the rest of Arsenal\u2019s season and could jeopardise his World Cup involvement. \u201cIt looks like a long-term injury,\u201d Arteta told assembled media, \u201cso at the moment the focus is when we can have him back to be available for Arsenal, and that\u2019s not going to happen for many, many weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
White\u2019s enforced removal at West Ham disrupted the team\u2019s balance. Arteta first moved Declan Rice into the right back role without success before turning to Cristhian Mosquera at the interval. The Gunners ultimately escaped the London Stadium thanks to a hotly controversial VAR decision.<\/p>\n
With two remaining Premier League fixtures and a Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain to come, Arteta said plainly: \u201cWe need to look at alternatives.\u201d There are clear options on paper and difficult trade-offs to weigh.<\/p>\n
In an ideal scenario Jurri\u00ebn Timber returns from a groin problem in time for the final. Timber is described as Arsenal\u2019s most complete one-on-one defender and would give the best chance of containing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The issue is fitness. \u201cHe has progressed a little bit in the last few days,\u201d Arteta revealed. \u201cHe\u2019s feeling better. We are going to try to get him fit and available as quick as possible, but let\u2019s see.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously he\u2019s been out for a while, unfortunately. He\u2019s such an important player for us, we all know that, and he\u2019s doing everything he possibly can to help the team in any capacity.\u201d On the likelihood of a return Arteta added: \u201cThere is a chance, but how big that chance is, I cannot tell you. He is going to do everything he can to make that chance as big as possible and that\u2019s the challenge ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Timber\u2019s absence Mosquera has been the most familiar option. The 21-year-old\u2019s touch-tight defending is the safer choice but could be exposed by a dribbler who pivots towards goal. Rice embodies the broader problem: alternatives at fullback are unproven. \u201cThe sample is so tiny,\u201d he sighed. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to judge a player when he has low minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rice\u2019s right back showing against Brighton in December was outstanding. \u201cHe was exceptional,\u201d Arteta recalled, but at West Ham \u201cThe other night, it was something else.\u201d Against Burnley and Crystal Palace the extra body Rice provides in midfield has logic, yet the risk of another roll of the dice remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta outlines options at right back after Ben White ruled out for many, many weeks. Timber doubts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1647],"tags":[984],"class_list":["post-13803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-champions-league","tag-ben-white"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}