{"id":48,"date":"2026-03-17T21:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/osport.com.ng\/2026\/03\/17\/deserved-to-play-today-in-him-i-trust\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:13:15","slug":"deserved-to-play-today-in-him-i-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Deserved to play today&#8221;, &#8220;In him I trust&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5140343\" data-slug-id=\"2753201\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Arsenal fans have been left pleased with the inclusion of Ben White in the XI for their UEFA Champions League meeting with Bayer Leverkusen. The Gunners are looking to progress to the last eight of the competition after a 1-1 draw in Germany last week. <\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side were dealt a blow last weekend as Jurrien Timber was forced off in the first half of their 2-0 win over Everton. The Dutchman had been replaced by Cristhian Mosquera following his injury, but Arteta has opted to have White start against Bayer Leverkusen. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Ben White&#8217;s inclusion has excited a good number of Arsenal fans who believe that the 28-year-old was due a start for the side. Some of the fans have taken to X to share their excitement ahead of kick-off at the Emirates Stadium. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>A fan stated that the right-back deserved to play, urging the team to go on and win the game. <\/p>\n<p>Another fan declared their trust in the former Brighton &#038; Hove Albion man.<\/p>\n<p>A fan expressed their confidence in their side picking up a win because of White&#8217;s presence in the line-up.<\/p>\n<p>Another fan was left feeling emotional after White was named in the starting XI. <\/p>\n<p>Ben White has endured a couple of injury-hit seasons, causing him to lose his place in the Arsenal starting XI to the excellent Jurrien Timber. He has appeared seven times in the Champions League this season, as many times as he has played for the Gunners in the Premier League. He appeared in all but one of his side&#8217;s games in the league phase, starting thrice.<\/p>\n<h2>Arsenal stars miss out on Champions League clash through injury <\/h2>\n<p>Arsenal duo Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard are absent for the Gunners from their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen. The Premier League side are looking to make use of their home advantage to eliminate the Bundesliga after a 1-1 draw in the first leg.<\/p>\n<p>Netherlands international Timber was forced off after 38 minutes against Everton last weekend, with Cristhian Mosquera coming on in his place. The right-back picked up a knock to his right ankle following a collision with Iliman Ndiaye, leading to his injury and absence against Bayer Leverkusen.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal captain Odegaard remains sidelined with a lingering knee issue that has kept him out of the last five games, with his last appearance coming against Tottenham Hotspur on February 22nd. The Norway international has played just four times in the Champions League this season due to a series of injury problems. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Sulayman Salahudeen<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal fans have been left pleased with the inclusion of Ben White in the XI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}