Arsenal could be without both Jurrien Timber and Ben White for the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain after a fresh injury blow
Arsenal are hoping Jurrien Timber can be fit to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, after Ben White suffered a season-ending knee injury in Sunday’s win at West Ham.
White, 28, was substituted during the first half of the game at the London Stadium following a collision with West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville. Mikel Arteta cut a concerned figure in his post-match press conference and it has since been reported that White has sustained a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injury in his right knee.
It’s added that White is now expected to miss the rest of the 2025/26 season, including this month’s Champions League final against PSG, and is a doubt for the start of this summer’s World Cup with England.
With White out, Arsenal want Timber to return in time to face PSG in Budapest on Saturday, May 30. The Mirror said on Monday that the Dutchman, 24, hoping to at least make a push to see if he can train this week and then step up to see if he can be fit for the Champions League final.
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Timber has missed the last 12 matches for Arsenal after picking up an ankle injury in the 2-0 win against Everton in mid-March. Although White has impressed in his absence at right-back, Timber has been a huge miss.
Speaking after Arsenal’s win at West Ham on Sunday, Arteta admitted that Timber’s injury has proven to be a complicated one. “Yes, that’s been probably the most difficult thing to manage,” the Spaniard said.
“With the player and with myself as well because we didn’t expect it to take so long and at the moment he’s not fit to play.”
Now White is set to join Timber out injured, Arsenal head coach Arteta won’t have a recognised senior right-back in his squad for at least the final two Premier League matches.
Arteta decided to put Declan Rice there for a short period against West Ham, but it didn’t work and he made another change with Christian Mosquera going there for the second half.
Mosquera is poised to continue there in the short-term while Timber prepares to return. William Saliba is another option, though him and Gabriel Magalhaes have a formidable centre-back partnership.
Although it does feel as though injuries are impacting the Arsenal squad right now, the Gunners need to beat Burnley and Crystal Palace in their final two Premier League matches to win the title.
They then go into the Champions League final against PSG looking to win that competition for the first time, having last reached this stage 20 years ago when they were beaten by Barcelona in Paris.
