Arsenal defender Ben White faces “months” on the sidelines, manager Mikel Arteta said on Friday after undergoing knee surgery.
The 27-year-old has tried to play through fitness issues this season and Arteta said he had a responsibility to protect the player.
“Ben White is going to be out for months, unfortunately,” said Arteta at his pre-match press conference ahead of Nottingham Forest’s visit to the Emirates on Saturday.
“He’s had different kinds of struggles. It’s never been the same thing but we had to make a decision.
“It hasn’t really improved in the last few weeks. We know that Ben is going to push every boundary but it got to a point that we had to protect the player and we decided to do the surgery.”
Injuries have played a major role in the Gunners’ underwhelming start to the season.
Arsenal were expected to challenge for a first Premier League title in over 20 years after finishing second to Manchester City in each of the past two seasons.
However, they find themselves nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool after 11 games and four behind City.
There is some better news for Arteta on the injury front as Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori have all recovered from issues to train this week.
The visit of fifth-placed Forest will be Arteta’s 250th match in charge.
He has been credited with Arsenal’s return to becoming title contenders, but is keen to add to his one major trophy — the 2020 FA Cup.
“I understand how lucky I am to be sitting where I am,” he added. “I feel huge pride to see what we transmit as a football club, as a team.
“But it is about winning in the end. You want to win more, you want to win big trophies, and we are on that journey.”
