Ben White injury update as Arsenal star forced off in Wolves win | Football

Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on Ben White after the defender was forced off in the first half of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Wolves.

Starting his fourth successive game in a row, White appeared to pull up and grab the back of his leg as he sprinted back to defend a Wolves counterttack.

The full-back went down shortly afterwards and eventually had to make way after 30 minutes, with Myles Lewis-Skelly replacing him.

Arsenal were given a boost before kick-off with William Saliba passed fit to make his return to the side after four games out with an ankle injury.

But White’s potential injury will add to Arsenal’s injury problems in defence, with Gabriel Magalhaes and Cristian Mosquera still currently available.

Asked for an update on White post-match, Arteta told TNT Sports: ‘We don’t know, I think he felt something in his hamstring.

‘We’ll have to wait and see the extent of that injury so not good news in that sense.’

Pressed about White’s injury further in his post-match press conference, the Spaniard added: ‘He obviously hasn’t played a lot of minutes because of the knee issue that he had.

‘Then, the moment he started getting some momentum, he had to play a lot because we didn’t have any other solution.

‘We even had to risk today William (Saliba), because it probably wasn’t the best call to play 90 minutes, because we are buying tickets for another injury but we don’t have anyone else.

‘But that (White’s injury) is bad news for sure. It looks like a hamstring but we don’t know the extent of that but probably tomorrow or the day after, we will know more.’

Arteta’s also bemoaned his side’s passive response to going ahead, which saw them drop deep and seek to protect a lead, an approach that almost came back to bite them when Tolu Arokodare headed home a 90th-minute equaliser.

The Gunners were ultimately bailed out when Yerson Mosquera headed Bukayo Saka’s 94th-minute cross into his own net, but Arteta said his side must learn from their near-miss.

‘We went deeper, and then we had the ball in the hands of the keeper and we don’t player, we just kick it – no, no, no,’ he said.

‘This is on us and we have to continue to play in the manner that we have to play. We can manage the result in a certain way but it has to be by being ourselves.

‘We can defend deep if they commit a lot of players and we can’t press them, that’s fine, but the level of activity in that play has to be very different to the one that we had.’

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