Arsenal suffer fresh injury blow as first-team star misses Brentford clash just four days before Champions League trip to Real Madrid

Arsenal have been dealt a fresh injury concern ahead of their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid, with Ben White left out of the squad for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Brentford.

White, 27, was a surprise omission from Mikel Arteta‘s matchday squad, with the Arsenal boss confirming the defender ‘felt something’ during Friday’s training session and was therefore not risked.

It is unclear if the issue is related to the knee injury that kept him sidelined for 25 games earlier this season.

The former Brighton man returned to full training in February following knee surgery and had featured in six of Arsenal’s last nine matches prior to Saturday’s fixture at the Emirates.

His most recent appearance came in midweek when he was introduced as a 90th-minute substitute in Arsenal’s emphatic 3-0 win over Madrid.

White replaced Jurrien Timber on Wednesday after the Dutch defender suffered a late injury issue.

Ben White, pictured before his cameo against Real Madrid on Tuesday, did not make the squad

Jurrien Timber, who suffered an injury in Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Madrid, was on the bench

White’s absence on Saturday was compounded by Timber only being judged to be fit enough for a place on the bench.

That forced Arteta to deploy midfielder Thomas Partey at right back against Brentford – a makeshift solution that may not suffice against the threat of Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe in Madrid.

Arteta now faces a nervous wait to see whether White and Timber can recover fully in time for Wednesday’s trip to the Santiago Bernabeu, where Arsenal will aim to protect their three-goal advantage and book a spot in the Champions League semi-finals. 

Speaking ahead of kick-off on Saturday, Arteta said: ‘Ben White couldn’t be in the squad because he felt something again post-training yesterday, so that limits the solutions we have because Jurrien wasn’t ready to start the game either.

‘Other players as well played a lot of minutes and other players deserve to play minutes to help the team.’ 

Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Brentford with Partey putting the Gunners ahead in the second half, but the hosts were then pegged back by a Yoane Wissa strike.