Ben White did not enjoy a good afternoon for Arsenal in their crucial clash with Manchester United on Sunday – and one passage of play summed up his problems.
White was substituted at half-time by Mikel Arteta, who brought on Takehiro Tomiyasu at right-back after the England international was booked in the first half. The £50million defender struggled to deal with Marcus Rashford throughout the first period – but there was one 20-second passage of play which summed up his struggles.
Rashford opened the scoring with a powerful long-range finish past Aaron Ramsdale, yet he wasn’t even involved in White’s nadir. The shocking piece of play from the Arsenal right-back came in the 39th minute.
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White had the ball and was under no pressure on the halfway line when he inexplicably passed the ball straight to Christian Eriksen. The United midfielder gave the ball to Antony, prompting White to fly into a challenge in an attempt to rectify his first mistake.
Instead, he compounded it. Antony easily slipped the ball past White before racing around him and retaining possession with a pass back to Luke Shaw.
Shaw passed the ball inside to Bruno Fernandes, who then combined nicely with Antony to breeze past White on the overlap down the touchline. The Portuguese midfielder left his opponent for dead with ease and charged past a furious Arteta on the touchline, before passing to a team-mate.
The clip was quickly shared on Twitter, with fans cringing at White’s performance. “Ben White, what are you doing???” wrote one. “BEN WHITE GET OFF THE PITCH!!!!!” added another.
White's shocking 20 seconds didn't have much effect on the scoreline in the end, as Eddie Nketiah struck late to earn Arsenal a 3-2 win. Nketiah headed in Granit Xhaka's cross to make it 1-1, before Bukayo Saka and Lisandro Martinez traded goals to level things. Nketiah then flicked in a loose ball to win it for the Gunners, who moved back to five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
White has been solid for Arsenal at right-back this season, with supporters quickly forgetting that he has actually been playing out of position. The 25-year-old was signed from Brighton in July 2021 as a central defender, but has been forced to change position, with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes forming a great partnership in the middle.
He has been preferred to play ahead of specialist full-backs Tomiyasu and Cedric Soares, who now looks set to leave for Fulham due to the lack of game time.
White has started all 19 of Arsenal’s Premier League matches this season, but will want to forget this performance. The Gunners are back in action against Manchester City in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday before travelling to Everton on February 4.
