Ben White ruled out for 'a few months' as Mikel Arteta reveals complicated injury issues plaguing Arsenal full-back

White was nursing a knee injury prior to his reported surgery in November, but has only missed four games thus far. Having played through the pain and gone under the knife, he was initially expected to miss eight weeks, but Arteta has now claimed his lay-off will last "months".

Arsenal have had to deal with significant injury issues this season, with the likes of Martin Odegaard, Kieran Tierney, Leandro Trossard and Takehiro Tomiyasu all joining White in the treatment room. With a number of players out, the Gunners have struggled for fluency and sit fourth in the Premier League table, nine points behind leaders Liverpool.

Arteta told reporters: "Ben is going to be out for months. 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."

Arsenal host Nottingham Forest this weekend in a big game for their title ambitions. The two clubs are actually level on points after Nuno Espirito Santo's side emerged as one of the most in-form teams in the league.