Raheem Sterling is ineligible to face his parent club Chelsea in Arsenal colours on Sunday, but such has been his limited impact in north London so far, it is unlikely he would have featured much at Stamford Bridge anyway.
Just over two months have passed since Sterling became outgoing sporting director Edu Gaspar‘s final Arsenal signing and the winger is still yet to provide any goals or assists in either the Premier League and Champions League for his new club.
Mikel Arteta has barely used Sterling in recent weeks even though the Gunners have been mired in a sticky patch. He has been an unused substitute in three of Arsenal’s last four games, remaining seated during a 2-2 draw with Liverpool and more revealingly in 1-0 losses to Newcastle and Inter Milan.
His only appearance since being substituted in the 37th minute against Bournemouth on 19 October was against Preston North End in the Carabao Cup.
He has started just one of Arsenal’s 11 matches in the two competitions they care most about, against relegation-threatened Southampton at the start of October.
It has been an undeniably inauspicious start for someone of his reputation. A deal billed as a no-brainer for both player and club is looking more like a damp squib.
The 29-year-old’s situation is reflective of an underwhelming summer in which Arsenal didn’t sufficiently move the dial in their pursuit of a first league crown in more than two decades.
After finishing just two points behind Manchester City in 2023-24, scoring 91 goals and topping the charts for fewest goals conceded and most clean sheets kept, there were no glaring weaknesses in Arsenal’s team. They had the second-best attack in the division, the best defence and a midfield blessed with creativity, energy and tenacity.
The club didn’t need to do much in the transfer window and yet a few months into a season that many people tipped them to win the title in, it is hard to escape the nagging suspicion that they didn’t do enough.
Discounting David Raya whose move from Brentford was made permanent, Arsenal made four signings: Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino were bought from Bologna and Real Sociedad respectively, while Sterling and Neto were last-minute deadline-day loans from Chelsea and Bournemouth.
Of that quartet, Calafiori arrived with the most hype after a sensational season with Bologna and an encouraging Euros with Italy, and he has made the biggest impact.
The 22-year-old is undoubtedly a talented and versatile player who has bolstered Arteta’s defensive options but it is debatable whether he features in their first-choice starting XI with everyone fit. Gabriel Magalhaes is a permanent fixture at left centre-back and Jurrien Timber is more naturally suited to the inverted full-back role.
They could be weakened again this weekend with Arteta potentially without Havertz, Merino and Rice and Calafiori definitively ruled out. The absence of key assets has been key to a stuttering start which sees Arsenal seven points behind league leaders Liverpool, a gap that could conceivably widen to 10 after this weekend.
There is precious little margin for error over the coming months, but all is certainly not lost. City have their own issues to contend with having lost three consecutive games for the first time since 2018 and been robbed of Rodri for the rest of the season.
Arsenal could well recover from a tricky start and go on to achieve what they set out to before a ball was kicked. The frustration is that they have been unable to take charge of the title race when the chance to do so was there. Instead they are playing catch-up after a summer of missed opportunity.
