Arsenal news: 11 players told they 'should be banned' as new Ben White theory emerges

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Arsenal have a battle on their hands with three trophies still to play for this season and various injury worries to contend with. A total of 12 Gunners returned to north London prematurely during the international break for treatment ahead of the Premier League's return in April.

Mikel Arteta's side have an FA Cup quarter-final coming up on Saturday night against Southampton and the manager could be forced to make a number of changes. Big stars like Declan Rice , Piero Hincapie, Eberechi Eze and William Saliba all pulled out of their national team squads to return to the club.

With just seven games left of the Premier League season, it looks like Arteta is closing in on his first league title since taking the reins in 2019. Fans will hope that the Gunners can cling to their nine-point cushion in order to lift the trophy in May.

Here, Mirror Football has the latest coming out of the Emirates Stadium.

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Gabby Agbonlahor is adamant that Arsenal's injured stars should be banned from domestic games if they have pulled out of international duty.

A total of 11 players have withdrawn from their respective national teams. They include Saliba, Rice, Eze, Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel, Leoandro Trossard, Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke.

The former Aston Villa star was discussing the tense title race between the Gunners and Manchester City when the topic of the departing Arsenal stars came up.

He said: "If I was part of the Premier League and I was making a decision, I would bring in a new rule, you miss the next Premier League game available if you pull out of international duty.

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"I tell you something, players will stop pulling out. Playing for your country is an honour. If I'm Harry Kane , I'm speaking about this and saying, 'Come on, guys, let's not go back to what we were doing four or five years ago where players are pulling out non-stop.'

"I get it, Arteta is doing everything possible to win these trophies. Their next game after the international break is the FA Cup against Southampton .

"I'm just not keen on players pulling out of international duty. It's an honour to play for your country. It doesn't sit right with me."

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talkSPORT star Adrian Durham believes that Ben White didn't do his England homework during the 2022 World Cup which led to his public exit from the squad.

The experienced defender returned to international duty for the first time since his departure from the Three Lions four years ago. Thomas Tuchel called White up in place of the injured Jarell Quansah and he scored upon his return in a 1-1 draw with Uruguay.

However, the reasoning behind his England exit in 2022 continues to be highly-contested and Durham has an interesting theory. He said: "This is what I’m led to understand has happened with Ben White .

"The players were told to watch videos of opponents and they were given videos on their laptops, iPads, whatever it was. He decided not to and the England analysts knew, because they had the tech, who had and who hadn’t watched the videos.

"When asked about it, Ben White got really upset about it to the point where he quit England. If that is true, why on earth would Thomas Tuchel want him back in the squad when he’s not prepared to put the hard yards in to be as good as he possibly can against the opponents England are up against.