{"id":3096,"date":"2026-05-12T14:48:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=3096"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:48:30","slug":"ben-white-injury-arsenal-and-england-defender-a-major-doubt-for-world-cup-as-knee-issue-ends-season-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=3096","title":{"rendered":"Ben White injury: Arsenal and England defender a major doubt for World Cup as knee issue ends season | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Arsenal defender Ben White will miss the rest of the season with a medial ligament injury, and is a major doubt for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

White came off injured in the first half against West Ham on Sunday. He will miss the Premier League season run-in, with Arsenal facing Burnley and Crystal Palace in their attempts to win their first top-flight title in 22 years, and the Champions League final at the end of May.<\/p>\n

The injury means White, who was brought back into the England fold by Thomas Tuchel in March, also appears highly unlikely to feature at this summer’s World Cup in North America.<\/p>\n

Tuchel selects his tournament squad on Friday May 22.<\/p>\n

More to follow.<\/em><\/p>\n

What do Arsenal do at right-back now?<\/h3>\n

Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz:<\/em><\/p>\n

Arsenal now have a right-back shortage in the most crucial part of their season.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta is hoping to get the club’s first Premier League title in 22 years plus their first ever Champions League trophy. But now there needs to be a rethink in the right hand side of the defence.<\/p>\n

Not only is there this blow for White, but Arteta was not exactly confident in seeing Jurrien Timber again this season when asked about the Dutchman’s fitness on Friday. Timber has not played since the 2-0 win over Everton on March 14.<\/p>\n

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\n Jurrien Timber is also out for Arsenal with injury
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So what do the Gunners do now? Cristhian Mosquera is the most likely candidate to take up the right-back mantle between now and the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard has played 430 minutes in that position this season in the Premier League and Champions League – and turned out in that role for the second half of the win over West Ham.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Cristhian\n <\/div>
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\n Cristhian Mosquera’s Premier League and European minutes this season
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Mosquera has plenty of experience for Arsenal this season – and started the defeat to Manchester City in April at right-back – so can take up the mantle.<\/p>\n

But a player who has made just 17 starts for Arsenal is now in line to play three of the biggest games in their history.<\/p>\n

There is also Declan Rice as a right-back option, if needed. However, the England midfielder is a key cog in the middle of the park – and Arteta’s experiment in putting Rice at right-back for 20 minutes at West Ham on Sunday did not work.<\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n


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Gary Neville analyses Mikel Arteta\u2019s tactical reshuffle against West Ham and explains why moving Declan Rice to right-back caused Arsenal to lose control of the game.<\/span>
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Arsenal’s remaining fixtures this season<\/h3>\n

May 18:<\/strong> Burnley (H), Premier League, live on Sky Sports, kick-off 8pm<\/p>\n

May 24: <\/strong>Crystal Palace (A), Premier League, live on Sky Sports, kick-off 4pm<\/p>\n

May 30: <\/strong>Paris Saint-Germain (N), Champions League final, kick-off 5pm<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal defender Ben White will miss the rest of the season with a medial ligament injury, and is a major doubt for the World Cup. White came off injured in … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}