Arsenal’s Ben White Set for Extended Layoff After Knee Surgery

Arsenal defender Ben White will be sidelined for “months” following knee surgery, manager Mikel Arteta has announced.

The 27-year-old has been dealing with multiple injuries, and a decision was made during the international break to proceed with the operation. “He has faced various struggles, and it has never been one consistent issue. Unfortunately, he hasn’t improved over the past few weeks,” Arteta explained ahead of Saturday’s match against Nottingham Forest.

“We know Ben will push himself, but we reached a point where we needed to protect him, so we opted for surgery. He agreed, and it will keep him out for a few months.”

When asked for a specific recovery timeline, Arteta said, “We need to see how he responds after surgery. I don’t anticipate it being as long as six months, but I can’t provide an exact timeframe.”

In more positive news for the Gunners, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are expected to return after recovering from knocks sustained during the draw at Chelsea, which had forced them to withdraw from the England squad.

Additionally, defender Riccardo Calafiori could feature on Saturday after a month out with a knee issue, while Takehiro Tomiyasu remains unavailable.