Ben White injury: Why Mikel Arteta must take the blame as Arsenal sent six-week warning

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta must cop the blame for Ben White's latest injury blow, Gunners expert Charles Watts has told Sports Mole.

The 28-year-old is reported to be facing around a month on the sidelines with the hamstring injury he suffered against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, meaning that he is at risk of missing at least 10 games between now and the end of January.

White was making his fourth successive start in all competitions in the showdown with the Old Gold, having benefitted from injuries to Cristhian Mosquera, William Saliba and Jurrien Timber to win his place back, but the latter two were fit to start against Wolves.

Piero Hincapie was also selected to replace the suspended Riccardo Calafiori at left-back, meaning that Myles Lewis-Skelly - who replaced White - was overlooked for a spot in the starting XI, a decision that baffled Watts.

"I feel like this one's more Mikel Arteta's own doing," Watts said. "Did Ben White really need to start that game? The fact Saliba and Timber were both deemed fit enough to start, that surely gave you a bit of an opportunity not to have to play Ben White for the fourth time in 10 days when he hadn't done that in over a year.

Mikel Arteta's "strange" Ben White call questioned after Arsenal injury blow

"You could have played Lewis-Skelly left-back, kept Hincapie and Saliba at centre-back, had Timber over at right back and then brought Ben White on with a half an hour to go. That was a bit strange from Arteta."

White's latest problem came in just his fourth Premier League appearance of the campaign, as the former Brighton & Hove Albion man had been kept out of the side by the in-form Timber before the Dutchman briefly joined Arsenal's long list of growing absentees.

White marked his return to the XI with a fine assist for Mikel Merino against Brentford at the start of the month, but his hamstring problem adds to an increasingly growing list of injury woes for the England international.

The 28-year-old picked up just two problems in his first three seasons at Arsenal, but he has now been sidelined with six separate injuries - including a knee operation - since the beginning of the 2024-25 season, missing 30 games in total.

Watts also took an even more pessimistic view of a potential return date, warning Gooners that White may be missing for as many as six weeks, potentially ruling him out of the entire January schedule.

Mikel Arteta has a "real problem" at Arsenal after Ben White blow

"Hugely disappointing," Watts added. "It's the way of the world when it comes to Arsenal! You get Saliba back and bang, a defender goes out in the same game. It’s been the story of the season - one in, one out straight away. Real, real shame.

"I was gutted for him – when you see the replays, it's a full sprint hamstring as well, which is never great news. You're looking at four to six weeks with that - that's the expectation.

"And that's a real, real worry because with Mosquera on the sidelines for at least another month, you’ve got Timber and nothing! How do you protect Timber? It's a real problem for Mikel Arteta because he cannot be playing Timber in all those games.

"If White gets back mid-January, which is probably pushing it, but if it's mid-January, there's about 10 games in that period - you can't play Timber in all 10. He's going to have to find another solution to be able to give Timber some time off.

"And for Ben White, having got back into the team, started to look sharp, he would have been loving life again. You could see it in his face when he walked off, absolutely distraught."

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour also exclusively gave Sports Mole his White transfer prediction after the versatile defender was sidelined once again.

> Click here to listen to the full discussion on White's injury, replacements and a possible summer sale