Arsenal hit by worrying surgery blow for key defender | OneFootball

Arsenal face being without defender Ben White for a few weeks after he underwent a minor medical procedure to resolve a joint issue.

The 27-year-old has started the Gunners' last two fixtures against Chelsea and Inter but had previously missed clashes with Leicester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Southampton earlier this season.

Having played through pain in recent weeks while Arsenal deal with injuries elsewhere, the decision was eventually made to go under the knife during the November international break, given he remains in a self-imposed exile from England duty.

White missed four matches earlier this season with his knee problem and had to be left out of the starting XI for the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United as a precaution.

His fitness issues were part of a larger issue for Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who has also had to monitor knocks sustained by the likes of Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu at the start of the campaign.

Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were among the nine players who dropped out of the Three Lions squad due to injuries, while Martin Odegaard elected not to join up with Norway having just made his first club start since August.

White's potential absence would be a big blow for Arteta ahead of a number of important fixtures. The north London giants take on Nottingham Forest, Sporting CP and West Ham United once national team commitments come to an end and are in desperate need of Premier League points after falling nine points behind leaders Liverpool.