Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta reveals Ben White to miss 'months'
A trip to London Colney for Mikel Arteta's Friday presser leads to disappointing injury news
Hello,
Happy Friday afternoon,
Or would it have been until Mikel Arteta revealed that defensive lynchpin Ben White will be missing for, and I quote, “months.”
Speaking this lunchtime, Arteta explained: “Ben is gonna be out for months. It’s been different kinds of struggles. It’s never been the same thing. It’s not been improving….unfortunately it’s going to be a few months…..”
The flip side of that is the good news that Arteta said he expects Leandro Trossard “to be ok. He trained this morning…so that’s good,” before the Gunners boss added: “Bukayo and Declan had a session today.”
Arteta also confirmed the news about Riccardo Calafiori that "He will be in the squad.". A good thing as the popular combative Italian has been judged my many seasoned observers to be the Premier League’s best summer signing.
Mikel Arteta speaking this lunchtime after revealing that Ben White will be missing for “months’. CREDIT: Picture courtesy of Arsenal FC
It’s always interesting to observe Arsenal managers up close at the club’s training ground and for all intents and purposes headquarters.
Counting interim appointments I make Arteta the fifth Arsenal manager I have fired questions at over the years, and he’s always good value.
What I really like is when the passionate Basque gets animated about a particular footballing topic, and he starts moving, if not pepper pops, then Prime drinks bottles and Arsenal-branded water bottles around, as he did so this afternoon.
To see him do such a thing makes him so relatable, as if you or I were in the Arsenal Cafe pre-match on Blackstock Road, and discussing tactics, or goals, or player movements. Except, instead of salt and pepper we also used a small microphone and overpriced sweet energy drinks for illumination.
After my trip to Tirana, to take in Albania vs Ukraine this week - among so many other things in that mesmerisingly unique and welcoming county in the company of a dear old mate, and his equally engaging local pal.
As an aside, I’m still sharing my tales to everyone I meet, although I’m not actually sure if everyone actually believes me, when I tell them I had a memorable lunch in a former bunker built by former dictator Enver Hoxha.
Back at Colney this afternoon, I thought it would be fitting to ask about Alex Zinchenko, so watch this space for what Arteta told me.
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Arsenal Women qualify for Champions League quarter-finals
Read my quick match report from a bitterly cold Emirates on Thursday evening
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My Morning Star newspaper Champions League match report: Arsenal Women 1-0 Juventus
Gunners reach quarter-finals of the Champions League with two matches to spare
A last-gasp goal by substitute Lina Hurtig was enough to seal victory for Renee Slegers rejuventated side and steer AWFC to the last eight of the tournament they won back in 2008.
Just as the 9,963 crowd thought it was going to end honours even between Arsenal Women and Juventus on a bitterly cold north London evening, Swedish substitute Hurtig stepped up to slot home in the 89th minute.
Slegers remains unbeaten during her spell as interim AWFC boss with another victory over the Italians, following the Gunners impressive 4-0 rout of Juve in Turin last week.
The last-gasp strike was redemption for late sub Hurtig who had a gilt-edged chance to seal victory moments previously, but her close range header flew over the bar when well-placed.
Speaking after the match, Slegers said: "I'm very happy with the result, very happy for the club, and very happy for the players."
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Kudos to the Gooner Fanzine’s Arsenal Women’s coverage
Speaking of which I have to say a massive well done to our AWFC team at the Gooner Fanzine including the brilliant Freddie Cardy, Suzy Lycett, Daisy Goodhand and Claudia Loy who have been producing such consistently excellent levels of content.
Whether it be outstanding in-depth daily coverage, superb match photographs, excellent podcasts and instant reaction pieces and analytical pieces, the team have been continuing to produce such top quality work.
I’ll be highlighting more when I get a bit more time, suffice to say it’s no exaggeration to say our highly-respected team are at the vanguard of coverage on Arsenal Women, something that makes me so proud.
DAILY LIST:
I - Hope that it doesn’t rain when myself and our sellers attempt to flog the current issue of the Gooner Fanzine on the streets of Islington around the Emirates on Saturday afternoon.
II - Sit down with a cuppa and plan my trip to Lisbon next week
III - Take my pal for a walk at some stage
