Arsenal revealed earlier this week that Ben White had suffered a “significant” knee injury in the win over West Ham United last Sunday.

• READ MORE: Press conferences for Gameweek 37

Speaking at Thursday’s press conference, Mikel Arteta confirmed that the injury looked like a “long-term” one.

“We have to wait and see [whether he’s out of the World Cup], it looks like a long-term injury. At the moment, the focus is ‘When can we have him back and available for Arsenal?’, and that’s not going to happen in many, many weeks.” – Arne Slot on Ben White

Arteta suggested that fellow Jurrien Timber (ankle) is still sidelined, too.

“We need to look at alternatives. The two players that we have, they are not available at the moment, so we need to look and do something else. The good thing is that we have experienced that all over the pitch this season, because when we had issues, normally they were in the same positions, as well, and we have managed still to find the right level of performance and consistency, so I’m sure we will do that.” – Mikel Arteta on his right-back options

“He wanted to be very close to the team [which is why he was with the squad in Gameweek 36]. He’s progressed a little bit in the last few days, he’s feeling better. We’re going to try to get him fit and available as quickly as possible, but let’s see. Obviously, he’s been out now for a while, unfortunately. He’s such an important player for us. We all know that and he’s doing everything he possibly can to help the team in any capacity. We know his leadership, his quality and how much the team needs him. He’s trying everything that he can.

“There is a chance [Timber plays again this season] but how big the chance is, I cannot tell you. I’m being completely honest. He’s going to try to do everything he can to convert that chance as high as possible in the shortest possible period, and that’s the challenge ahead.” – Mikel Arteta on Jurrien Timber

The Arsenal boss initially didn’t offer us much else on the team news front.

“Not much [team news] at the moment, we still have a few days till Monday, so we’ll have to wait and see how certain players evolve and whether they are available or not for the game.

“We have most players available now. Okay, we lost Ben [White] the other day, but the other ones are coming back as well. Everybody is so enthusiastic and so positive about the way that we can finish the season.” – Mikel Arteta

Later in the presser, Arteta was asked about Riccardo Calafiori, who came off at half-time last weekend. Again, he wasn’t a great deal of help – but Sky Sports later reported that he was seen in training.

“No, we don’t know whether he’s going to be available. We still have days ahead. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious but we’ll have to wait and see how he reacts to that.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Riccardo Calafiori has trained yet

Calafiori was one of the names mentioned by journalists as a possible understudy at right-back. Declan Rice spent time in that position in Gameweek 36 before Cristhian Mosquera took over in the second half.

“I think the sample is so tiny. It’s very difficult to judge a player when he has so low minutes.

“Declan Rice, when he’s played as a full-back, against Brighton, was exceptional. But then the other night, it was something else. It depends. The sample is still so little, it will remain so little from here to the end of the season to judge if a player is good enough and can perform in the position, and what is the cost of moving that player from one position to the other? That’s the balance that we need to find.” – Mikel Arteta, when asked about Riccardo Calafiori’s previous brief experience at right-back against Paris Saint-Germain last season

There was no specific update on long-term absentee Mikel Merino (foot).

And there was no sight of Bukayo Saka, William Saliba or Martin Odegaard in training on Thursday, but their absences have been downplayed by Sky.

Away from injury news and selection dilemmas, will Arsenal go all out to boost their goal difference against Burnley? Arteta was asked that very question.

“First of all, you have to earn the right to win the game. Obviously, you can make a difference with more goals, that’s obviously even better. But we’re all playing very tough matches. We had a really tough match against West Ham and we managed to win it. It was a great feeling, but we know ideally that scoring goals is going to be important.” – Mikel Arteta on the importance of goal difference