Mikel Arteta issues huge Ben White update amid eight Arsenal injury concerns for Forest

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Arsenal right-back Ben White is facing "months" on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury.

The 27-year-old has been dealing with different issues all season and has missed games against PSG, Leicester, Southampton and Bolton. After struggling through until the November international break though, the decision was taken for him to undergo surgery in order to finally address the ongoing problems.

Now Arteta has confirmed that, although the surgery was successful, White is set for a lengthy spell out of the team.

"Ben is gonna be out for months unfortunately," the Spaniard confirmed in his pre-match press conference. "It’s been different kinds of struggles. It’s never been the same thing. We had to make a decision. It’s not been improving in the last few weeks unfortunately.

"We know that Ben is going to push every boundary but it got to a point a where we have to protect the player and we decided to do the surgery. He agreed with that and unfortunately that’s going to keep him out for a few months."

The news leaves Arteta struggling for depth at right-back, with Takehiro Tomiyasu dealing with an ongoing knee injury of his own. The Japan international is set to travel away from north London in order to continue his rehab, but Arteta was unable to provide a timescale on when he might be back.

"He is going to be away now for a few weeks to continue with his treatment and as well change a little bit the environment, because psychologically it has been really, really tough for him - as you can imagine," Arteta said. "He is a guy that the only thing he wants to do is work 24 hours to get better and he feels terrible when he is not fit.

"It’s a real shame, so we are going to give him the best opportunity to try out that kind of thing. If it can trigger something, unlock something and try to help him, to have him as quick as possible back - but I think we need to be patient."

There was at least more positive news on Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest. The pair both failed to join up with England over the international break as they recovered from foot and muscle injuries respectively, but should be available for Saturday's match.

"Bukayo and Declan are very good," Arteta confirmed. "They had partial session."

Leandro Trossard should also be fit after picking up a hamstring injury over the international break with Belgium.

"Trossard seems to be OK," Arteta said. "He trained this morning and he seems to be feeling good. We will assess everything with the doctor right now. But that’s good."

Arteta also confirmed that Riccardo Calafiori will also be available after recovering from a knee injury picked up last month.

"Riccy trained today," the Spaniard said. "His rehab has gone really well. He was able to do certain things last week with the physios. He trained on the pitch this week, he trained with us today as well. He will be in the squad."

The game will come to soon for Kieran Tierney, who is back in training for the first time this season after suffering a hamstring injury in the summer with Scotland. Martin Odegaard will be fit after missing the international break with Norway, much to the joy of Arteta.

"Martin brings everybody together, he has this capacity with and without the ball," the Spaniard said. "He has this charisma, leadership and that’s why he is the captain. He has the intelligence to make everybody better and make everybody click. That’s a unique quality that he has. Obviously that has been missed."

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