Mikel Arteta has offered a new update on Arsenal's injury troubles as they head into a timely international break.
The Gunners have been besieged by fitness struggles of late, though a lengthy list of absentees has not stopped them from bouncing back from their controversial first Premier League defeat of the season at Newcastle with back-to-back wins over Sevilla and Burnley.
Leandro Trossard, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko were all on target in a 3-1 success against the struggling Clarets on Saturday in a game that saw Fabio Vieira sent off late on at the Emirates Stadium, though there were more injury concerns to contend with as Ben White became the latest player ruled out.
The England defender joined captain Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe and long-term absentee Jurrien Timber in missing the win over Burnley, though Arsenal did at least have Bukayo Saka and Takehiro Tomiyasu ready to start after respective injury scares and Eddie Nketiah fit enough for a late cameo on Saturday.
Quizzed on the reason for White's absence from the squad against Burnley, Gunners boss Arteta said: "Yesterday [Friday] in training he wasn’t comfortable. He didn’t look right.
"But Ben won’t give you much. He always wants to be on the pitch and he wants to hide anything that is in there.
"But we highlighted something happening there that we noticed in the last two weeks as well. We wanted to protect him.
"It was the right call from the physios and the medical department and tomorrow [Sunday] we will assess him and understand what’s happening."
A lot of responsibility has been placed on Jorginho's shoulders with fellow central midfielders Odegaard and Partey currently out, with the former Chelsea star impressing against Burnley but suffering a cut to the back of his head at the end of the game.
Asked for an update on a player who is now back in the Italy squad after an upturn in fortunes, Arteta said: "He had a few bad cuts I think so they could not sort it out on the pitch, so they decided to take him out.
"Hopefully he is fine. I think he was really good again today, the way this guy is competing, coaching and supporting the team in every way, I am really happy with him."
Arteta also revealed that Tomiyasu had an eye issue, while he is unsure if influential skipper Odegaard will now join up with the Norway squad for matches against the Faroe Islands and Scotland.
"Only his eye, his lens, he had a problem with his lens but the rest he was top, a very good performance," Arteta said of Tomiyasu.
On Odegaard, he added: "I don't know. I am going to have a meeting now with the medical department and Edu to understand everyone's situation but I think he is going to be back after the international break.
"I don't know exactly what is the decision and the communication at the moment."
