The 27-year-old Arsenal defender has been battling ongoing injury issues, and a decision was made during the international break to address the problem with an operation.

Arteta was quoted by the BBC saying: “It has been different kinds of struggles. It has never been the same thing, but we had to make a decision. He has not improved over the last few weeks, unfortunately.

“We know that Ben is going to push every boundary, but it got to the point where we have to protect the player, and we decided to do the surgery. He agreed with that and it is going to keep him out for a few months.”

Arteta stopped short of providing a specific timeline for White’s recovery, adding: “We have to see how he reacts post-surgery. I don’t expect it to be half a year, but I cannot tell you exactly.”

But there is some good news for Arsenal as Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are expected to return for Saturday’s (23.11.24) home clash with Nottingham Forest after recovering from injuries sustained in the club’s recent 1-1 draw with Chelsea.

Defender Riccardo Calafiori is also back in contention following a month-long absence, though Takehiro Tomiyasu remains unavailable.

Arsenal, however, are enduring a challenging run of form, winless in their past five matches across all competitions and sitting nine points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Their most recent outing against Chelsea saw Gabriel Martinelli open the scoring before Pedro Neto equalised with a superb strike.

Despite chances for both sides late on, including Leandro Trossard’s close miss from a William Saliba cross, Arsenal could not find a winner – leaving them with a lot of ground to make up as the season rolls on.