Mikel Arteta has said Raheem Sterling must rebuild his confidence after being discarded by Chelsea and, before Sunday’s north London derby, has backed the England forward to rediscover his best form.
Sterling is in contention to make his Arsenal debut at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after completing his loan move on deadline day. The 29-year-old was surplus to requirements at Chelsea two years after joining from Manchester City and Arteta said it had taken only a 10-second conversation with Sterling to persuade him to pursue a deal.
But the Arsenal manager, who worked closely with Sterling at City while as an assistant to Pep Guardiola, also recognised that the player had lost confidence after his experiences at Chelsea and losing his place in the England squad.
“That is going to fluctuate in everybody’s career,” Arteta said. “Knowing him and how he is about always playing, always being present and important, when you have that status and role, for that to be changed, that hits you. We have to rebuild that but we have all the foundations and right context for him to get to the level we want.”
Arteta, asked whether he thought Sterling still possessed the hunger to succeed at the highest level, said: “His first words were: ‘I was dreaming about this call.’ That’s it. That tells you that he really wants it and was already thinking about the possibility and he could see himself here, delivering and enjoying his profession. When that happened, the rest I knew about him, so that blew all the question marks away. It is one of the things I love most about Raz – you take him to any ground, anywhere in the world, and he is willing to be there to make the difference.”
Sterling is vying with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard to start against Spurs on the left of Arsenal’s attack, although Arteta could mix things up if Martin Ødegaard is unfit. Tests on the Norway midfielder’s injured ankle have proved inconclusive but Arsenal are understood to be hopeful it is not as bad as feared and Arteta refused to rule him out of contention. It seems unlikely he will be available, in which case Arteta will be without three key midfielders given Declan Rice’s suspension and the shoulder injury sustained by Mikel Merino.
Arteta – who said he had “higher ambitions to fulfil” at Arsenal after signing a new three-year contract this week – insisted he would have no qualms about starting Ethan Nwaneri after being impressed with the 17-year-old playmaker’s progress since being added to the first team squad.
“I think big credit to everybody working in the academy that have prepared the player to be in the right position right now to shine,” he said. “He’s been doing really well, physically very mature, personally very mature, his game understanding has improved a lot. And then let him do it. He has an enormous quality, a lot of talent and he needs the space to shine.”