Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal injury blow ahead of crucial Real Madrid match

Ben White is absent from Arsenal's squad to face Brentford in the Premier League after suffering an injury setback. White was a notable absentee when Mikel Arteta named his much-changed starting XI for the late kick-off on Saturday.

The Arsenal defender has endured an injury-hit campaign, missing three months following knee surgery, and has now suffered a setback. The 27-year-old had appeared to be on the comeback, having started last weekend's 1-1 draw away at Everton and made an appearance off the bench against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

But, speaking ahead of the Brentford game, Arteta confirmed that White was missing from his squad due to a fresh injury, with midfielder Thomas Partey forced to fill in at right-back.

“Ben White couldn’t be in the squad because he felt something again post-training yesterday, so that limits the solutions we have because Jurrien [Timber] wasn’t ready to start the game either," he said. "Other players as well played a lot of minutes and other players deserve to play minutes to help the team.”

The injury is understood not to be serious, but is a worry considering White has made just 18 appearances across all competitions this season having decided to undergo a surgical procedure on his knee in November. He needed it done to correct a joint issue he had been struggling with for some time.

Timber was among those rested for the Brentford game, along with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Mikel Merino. Kieran Tierney, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jorginho and Ethan Nwaneri all made the starting XI, with Tierney starting in the Premier League for the first time since May 2023.

Zinchenko has been called into action in midfield, with Jorginho taking the captain's armband in Odegaard's stead. Arteta has insisted that his team are fully focused on the Bees game, even though the upcoming Real Madrid game is much more important.

The Gunners sit second in the Premier League but are 11 points behind leaders Liverpool with just seven games left to play. However, they are 3-0 up against Real Madrid after the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, with the second leg in the Spanish capital on Wednesday.

It's now maintaining that energy and that momentum and using it towards Brentford and the very difficult game that we're going to face against a team that, when you look at what they've done, it's just incredible," Arteta explained in his pre-match press conference.

"It's remarkable, it's a beautiful story and they have earned it in the way they work, in the way they organise, in the way they believe, in the way they play. So big credit to them, it's going to be a really tough test for us."

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