Gary Neville believes Arsenal defender Ben White was ‘asking for trouble’ by making a ‘weak’ challenge that led to a worrying injury that might rule him out for the remainder of the season.
White went down in pain following a clash with West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville in the primary half of Arsenal’s huge win on the London Stadium on Sunday.
The 28-year-old, who has regained his place within the team in recent weeks following a frustrating season, immediately looked concerned and shortly hobbled off assisted by of considered one of Arsenal’s medical staff.
Mikel Arteta was unable to present a transparent update on White’s injury after the sport but suggested he was a doubt for Arsenal’s final two Premier League fixtures and the Champions League final at the tip of the month.
‘We don’t know, but he doesn’t look good in any respect,’ a concerned Arteta said. ‘So he needs some further testing tomorrow probably and I do know a bit more.’
If serious, the injury could even rule White out of this summer’s World Cup just weeks after his England recall under Thomas Tuchel.
Neville said he ‘hopes’ it doesn’t come to that but suggested White needed to shoulder among the blame for the injury given his ‘pretty weak’ challenge.
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Speaking on Sky Sports commentary after White’s injury, Neville said: ‘Ben White just hangs his leg there. It’s poor from the right-back.
‘He’s up against Summerville; he’s got to be stronger than that. He’s hurt himself there.
‘That’s easily prevented when you go in strong and with an actual sturdy block. He’s hung his leg out in pretty weak fashion, you’re asking for trouble.’
Speaking after the sport, Neville revealed he had suffered an analogous injury in training during his Manchester United profession.
‘Ben White hangs his leg out and I’ve actually done what he did,’ he said on The Gary Neville podcast.
‘I did it in training, I went out for a drink on the Saturday night, which I never did but we didn’t have a game for ten days. I actually did my medial ligament in training on the Monday morning.
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‘I went in for a challenge like how Ben White did. For those who go in for a tackle and just hang your leg out away out of your body like that, you’re going to get that rock of your knee.
‘You might have to go in strong and really block with power because when you just hang your leg out you’ve got an excellent likelihood of doing all your medial ligament.
‘Ben White will regret that because that might see him out of the World Cup. We don’t know, we haven’t got the diagnosis yet, but they will be 4 to six-week injuries which might obviously be an enormous problem for Ben White when it comes to the World Cup and the Champions League final.
‘Let’s hope it’s not that bad but that sort of injury comes from that challenge.’
White’s injury was the one real blemish from an Arsenal standpoint as they clinched a dramatic 1-0 win over West Ham to maneuver a step closer to winning the Premier League.
Leandro Trossard’s late goal broke the deadlock on the London Stadium and West Ham had an injury-time equaliser ruled out following a VAR check.
Arsenal are five points clear of second-placed Manchester City while West Ham’s defeat means they sunk ever closer to relegation.
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