Mikel Arteta delivers Arsenal injury update amid triple concern vs Burnley

Mikel Arteta has provided an update on the fitness of three of his Arsenal players after their 3-1 win over Burnley at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League. The Gunners went into the game missing a host of players including Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith Rowe and Jurrien Timber.

That list was added to just before kick-off as it emerged Ben White and Cedric were going to miss the game. Arteta was willing to admit that Cedric had been suffering with illness, but remained vague on White's absence.

“Ben White finished the game against Sevilla with some issues and hasn’t had enough time to recover," he said. Speaking after the game though, the Spaniard was willing to expand further on his defender's absence.

"Yesterday in training he wasn’t comfortable," Arteta said in his post-match press conference. "He didn’t look right. But Ben won’t give you much. He always wants to be on the pitch and he wants to hide anything that is in there. But we highlighted something happening there that we noticed in the last two weeks as well. We wanted to protect him today. It was the right call from the physios and the medical department and tomorrow we will assess him and understand what’s happening."

Martin Odegaard was also absent for the game again for the third game in a row after missing the matches against Newcastle and Sevilla. Arteta revealed that he was hopeful that the Norwegian could be back after the international break.

"I am going to have a meeting now with the medical department and Edu to understand everyone's situation but I think he is going to be back after the international break," the Spaniard said. "I don't know exactly what is the decision and the communication at the moment."

Arsenal also lost another player to injury late on in the game as Jorginho suffered a nasty blow to his head after inadvertently getting in the way of Jakub Kiwior's attempted clearance. Speaking after the match though Arteta revealed the Italian should be OK.

"He had a few bad cuts I think so they could not sort it out on the pitch so they decided to take him out," he said. "Hopefully he is fine. 

I think he was really good again today, the way this guy is competing, coaching and supporting the team in every way, I am really happy with him."Arsenal will be hoping to come through the international break without picking up any further injuries ahead of December in which they play nine matches. Bukayo Saka and Takehiro Tomiyasu will be the Gunners' main concerns as they seek to get as many of their squad back fit again.