Arsenal’s Ben White ruled out for rest of season and facing World Cup woe

Ben White’s World Cup hopes appear to be over after Arsenal said the England defender would miss the rest of the season owing to a knee injury sustained in their win over West Ham on Sunday.

White was forced off in the first half of Arsenal’s 1-0 victory and left the London Stadium with his injured knee in a brace. The Premier League leaders confirmed on Tuesday that the 28-year-old had sustained a “significant medial ligament injury” and would not feature in their final three fixtures, including the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain on 30 May.

“Our medical team are now managing Ben’s recovery and rehabilitation programme, with everyone fully focused on supporting the aim of Ben being ready for the start of our pre-season preparations,” Arsenal said in a statement.

White was recalled by England after a four-year absence in March by Thomas Tuchel, who names his 26-man England World Cup squad a week on Friday. White scored his first international goal in March’s draw with Uruguay before starting against Japan four days later.

His absence is a major headache for the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, whose team face Burnley and Crystal Palace as they chase the club’s first league title in 22 years, before preparing for the showdown with PSG in Budapest. White has started the past five matches in place of Jurriën Timber, the Netherlands defender who has been one of their most consistent performers but has not played since the win over Everton on 14 March owing to a groin issue.

Arteta, who moved Declan Rice to right-back against West Ham before bringing on Cristhian Mosquera at the expense of Martín Zubimendi to correct what he acknowledged was his mistake, said last week that Timber may not play again this season. “There’s still a fair bit to do so everything has to be so smooth and quick if they want to have a chance to play any minutes,” he said when asked about expected return dates for Timber and the Spain midfielder Mikel Merino.

Palace have warned supporters they could be banned from buying a season ticket or membership next season if they attempt to sell their tickets to Arsenal fans for the game at Selhurst Park on the final day. There were several scuffles in the home sections of the London Stadium after Arsenal took the lead against West Ham on Sunday, with footage on social media showing one supporter being pushed down a staircase

“In a bid to prevent away fans from accessing the home sections, there will be a number of enhanced security measures in place for this match, including the disabling of ticket sharing to limit the unauthorised sharing of tickets and touting,” Palace said.