Mikel Arteta explains Ben White injury trouble as Arsenal handed another concern before Burnley
Arteta said he doesn’t want a repeat of his last call-up when he left the England camp having missed Arsenal’s game before that international break.
“Hopefully not. We want our players to play for their club and play for their national teams,” Arteta told reporters.
“B [Saka] had to leave the pitch because he was in quite a lot of pain. He didn’t train yesterday and let’s see if he can make it tomorrow.”
Arsenal have been hit by several injuries with defender Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced during the Sevilla game and club captain Martin Ødegaard missing the last two matches.
“A few are still in contention,” Arteta said. “We need to give them 24 more hours to give them a chance to be involved in the game, but we won’t know anything until tomorrow.
“He’s [Ødegaard] still racing [against the clock]. He’s trying everything that he can so let’s see. It’s a possibility.”
Arsenal suffered their first league defeat of the season at Newcastle United last weekend, and Arteta was vocal in his criticism of the winning goal which was awarded after a triple VAR assessment.
Arteta didn’t want to go back over the controversy but he was asked about reports that it will take 10 years to iron out VAR imperfections.
“I will probably be bald in 10 years, life will be very different, maybe we will have other new rules in football, so I don’t know,” he said.
“Let’s try to do everything that we can, individually and collectively to improve the game in every aspect and that’s it.”
Arsenal have the perfect chance to get back on track when they host Burnley on Saturday, a side with only one league win this season.
“Looking back on the games they have played and the results they’ve got, in some of them they merited much more than what they got,” Arteta said.
“But that is the difficulty of this league. Sometimes when you deserve more you don’t get it because the quality of the oppositions is so high.”
Arsenal are fourth in the table, three points behind leaders Manchester City. Burnley are second bottom with four points from 11 games.
After taking a big step forward in our quest to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages, we’re aiming to get our league campaign back on track when Burnley head to Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The unbeaten start to the season ended after 11 games following our defeat at Newcastle, but a morale-boosting 2-0 success against Sevilla in midweek was just the tonic we needed as we aim to head into the international break on a high note.
Our opponents arrive in north London on a poor run of form, losing six of their last seven matches, including the last four. However, all four of their points have been earned on the road so far, while they are unbeaten on each of their last two visits to Emirates Stadium and kept clean sheets in both.
Vincent Kompany breathed fresh air into Burnley during his first season at the helm last term, as they cantered to the Championship title amassing 101 points along the way. Their attractive style of football led many to believe they would be competitive in the top-flight, but just one win has been yielded from their opening 11 games.
A tough start saw them lose five of their first six, albeit against teams currently in the top eight. A first point was claimed at Nottingham Forest, and their only other result so far came courtesy of an 85th-minute winner from Jacob Bruun Larsson to beat Luton Town 2-1 at the start of October.
The benefits from that loss have since been wiped out, with successive defeats coming at the hands of Chelsea, Brentford, Bournemouth, and Crystal Palace. A lack of goals is seriously hampering them, with a league-low eight netted so far.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed another two absences before his side’s clash with Burnley on Saturday afternoon, with Ben White a new injury concern for the side. It comes as the Gunners have been navigating through a busy spell of fixtures, where fitness will be pushed to the maximum.
Back-to-back defeats last week saw the north London dumped out of the Carabao Cup to West Ham before their unbeaten streak in the Premier League was ended by Newcastle. A pick-me-up was needed for Arteta and his side, and it came in midweek as they beat Sevilla in the Champions League – putting them in the box seat for a place in the knockout rounds.
Mikel Arteta explains Ben White injury trouble as Arsenal handed another concern before Burnley
There have been injury concerns though as Jurrien Timber, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Emile Smith Rowe were longer-term absences that the manager ruled out from the clash with Burnley. There were doubts over Bukayo Saka, but he managed to make a return to the team despite a knock, with the same fate occurring for Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Club captain Martin Odegaard had missed some more recent clashes, with the playmaker also absent from the squad that faces the Clarets. Then there was the shock that there were yet more absences in defence as White and Cedric Soares were missing from the team sheet.
