Mikel Arteta wants to ‘protect’ Ben White after not picking him in win over Burnley as he reveals the Arsenal defender has been playing with an injury for the last few weeks

Mikel Arteta revealed Ben White was ‘hiding’ an injury in recent weeks and trying to play through the pain barrier after Arsenal’s win over Burnley on Saturday.

White missed Arsenal’s weekend hosting Vincent Kompany’s Burnley side as he was left out of the team by Arteta, who wanted to give the player enough time to recover from his problem.

The Arsenal manager thankfully did not need White as his side enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 win against Burnley in torrid form and found themselves in the Premier League relegation zone.

White had previously started all of Arsenal’s games in the English top-flight season, but he could now spend an extended period on the sidelines.

Arteta kept the details of White’s injury under wraps, but did explain that the full-back would undergo an assessment to determine the severity of his injury.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta revealed the defender had been trying to hide his problem in recent weeks

“Yesterday (Friday) in training he didn’t feel comfortable, he didn’t look good,” Arteta explained when asked about White’s absence against Burnley.

“But Ben won’t give you much. He always wants to be on the field and hide everything that is there.

‘But we emphasized that we had also noticed something happening there in recent weeks and that we wanted to protect him today.

‘It was the right decision by the physios and the medical department and tomorrow we will assess him and understand what is going on.’

The announcement comes in the same week that White was left out of England’s upcoming squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

White has not been involved in an England squad since leaving early at last year’s World Cup in Qatar for personal reasons.

White will have to undergo an examination to determine the severity of his latest injury

White had started every Premier League match for Arsenal this season prior to Saturday

There were further injury concerns for Arsenal during their recent weekend win, when Italian midfielder Jorginho was also forced off.

However, Arteta explained afterwards that the former Chelsea star would be fine.

I think he had some bad cuts so they couldn’t solve it on the field so they decided to take him out. Hopefully he’s doing well.

‘I think he was very good again today. The way this guy competes, coaches the team and supports the team in every way possible, I’m very happy with him.”