Arsenal are gearing up for a huge fixture with rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and Paul Merson believes the Gunners have the deciding player.
Despite dropping points against Brighton in their last fixture, the Gunners have had a good start to the season with Mikel Arteta’s men sat on seven points and fourth in the table.
Tottenham only have four points from a possible nine this season, despite them showing dominance in their matches.
Arsenal have a number of key players out through injury, like Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori – but Merson believes the Gunners have the trump card in Raheem Sterling.
The England international signed for Arsenal in an extraordinary deadline day move on loan from Chelsea.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Merson said this on penetrating Tottenham’s high line: “In my opinion, Mikel Arteta has now got to drop Kai Havertz back into the midfield but then there’s no Gabriel Jesus to play as the striker.
“They will probably end up playing with a false nine – that should be Leandro Trossard with Raheem Sterling on the wing.
“Against this Tottenham team, you have to have players who are prepared to run without the ball to get in behind a high line and Sterling does that.”
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Sterling is one of the most decorated players in recent English history from his time under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and will be eager to win Arteta his first Premier League trophy.
This is what Sterling had to say on his late move to the Emirates stadium: “I’m buzzing. It’s one where we left it late but it’s one I was hoping for. Looking at everything, I’m just like: ‘this is a perfect fit for me’, and I’m super happy that we got it over the line.
“It’s a perfect fit for myself to be at a football club like this, where you can see that hunger, that desire, year on year, they are pushing and pushing and pushing. That’s exactly how I am as a person.
“Each year you want to get better and do better than the previous year. Hopefully I can gel really well with the boys and get going.
“It’s time now to meet the boys, get settled in and hopefully now see some game time and make my mark.”
There is no better way for Sterling to win over Arsenal fans than with a stellar performance against their biggest rivals.