Mikel Arteta warned on Thursday that Arsenal are short at right-back after Ben White suffered an MCL injury at West Ham and Riccardo Calafiori was substituted at the London Stadium and now stands as a doubt for Monday’s final home game of the season.
Arteta added there is a chance Jurrien Timber could feature again before the end of the season, “There is a chance,” but conceded bluntly: “But how big that chance is I cannot tell you, being completely honest.”
The balance of Arsenal’s run-in has shifted dramatically. White’s injury at West Ham looks like a long-term problem — Arteta said, “It looks like a long-term injury, so at the moment the focus is that, when can we have him back to be available for Arsenal, and that’s not going to happen in many, many weeks” — and the club now faces the prospect of lining up without either of its regular right-backs as it prepares for a Premier League finish and the Champions League final on 30 May.
That squeeze leaves Cristhian Mosquera as the most obvious option to step in against Burnley and Crystal Palace: Mosquera, naturally a centre-back, played at right-back in the win over Burnley and is set to be considered again. Arteta said Arsenal “need to look at alternatives to the two players [White and Timber] that we have [at right-back].” He was clear they will not stick to a single makeshift solution: “There are different options in relation to the opponent as well, and the things we want to do with certain players, but we need to be open to that, not only to one but to two or three options, because games can vary, players can pick an injury, we need to be flexible on that and really think about that option.”
Context sharpens the problem. Timber has been absent since the 2-0 win over Everton with a groin problem; he did take part in a post-game warm-down with the players who featured at the London Stadium on Sunday and Arteta said he has “progressed a little bit in the last few days,” that “he’s feeling better” and “we’re going to try to get him fit and available as quickly as possible, but let’s see.” Arsenal have one more game against Crystal Palace on the final day before the Champions League final, meaning the club must manage two domestic fixtures while preserving fitness for the Budapest showpiece.
The tension is immediate. Calafiori’s substitution at the London Stadium turned a manageable rotation question into a pressing selection problem for Monday: Arteta said he hopes Calafiori’s latest setback is nothing serious, but he also admitted the club must plan as if both White and Timber are unavailable. That reality forced the manager to name Mosquera and other makeshift solutions as likely short-term answers; Arteta underlined the point plainly, saying, “They are not available at the moment, so we need to look and do something else.”
Arsenal’s decision now is not whether to adapt — it is how. With White facing a long spell on the sidelines and Timber only gradually improving, the squad will almost certainly rely on Mosquera and at least one other option across the final two domestic matches before 30 May. Arteta’s closing message was as much instruction as prognosis: Timber has been “out now for a while,” he said, “he’s doing everything that he possibly can to help the team in any capacity,” and the club will have to be flexible in who wears the right-back shirt while they try to get their injured players fit for the run to the Champions League final.
