Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta insists Raheem Sterling will get more football soon after being labelled as “one of the flops of the season”.
The Gunners have had a mixed start to the new Premier League season with Arteta’s men currently six points behind leaders Liverpool, who play defending champions Manchester City on Sunday in a crucial clash.
After a recent four-match winless streak in the Premier League, Arsenal have now won their last two matches convincingly against Nottingham Forest and West Ham.
That run of form has Arsenal fans believing again that they can take advantage of any slip-ups from Liverpool between now and the end of the season.
Arsenal made five new signings in the summer transfer window with David Raya completing a permanent move from Brentford after a season on loan, while Mikel Merino, Neto, Riccardo Calafiori and Sterling also joined.
Sterling has managed just two Premier League starts all season for Arsenal and former Premier League striker Stan Collymore recently branded him the “one of the flops of the season”.
Collymore said: “Raheem Sterling has been a massive disappointment. He came in and said he was going to give the club his best work, but that hasn’t happened.
“He’s arguably stunk the place out so far and he’s definitely one of the flops of the season having promised to do his best work at Arsenal.
“He’s an experienced player who has won everything there is to win, he was expected to push the dressing room up another level and he hasn’t done that.”
But Arteta insists any underperformance has been “down to” the Arsenal boss and he can’t fault the winger’s “application and commitment” since joining the Gunners.
Speaking before Arsenal thrashed West Ham 5-2 on Saturday, Arteta told reporters: “I would like to see him more to be fair and this is down to me. He’s trying his best.
“His application and commitment around the team has been exceptional and now it’s time for me to five I’m more minutes.”
When asked whether Sterling would get more of a chance in the coming weeks, Arteta added: “That’s the intention.
“That’s why I put him on against Forest, that’s why I wanted to put him on against Sporting, now getting into that rhythm because he can really impact the team as well.”
On his side’s performance against West Ham in general, Arteta later said: “I was happier with the first 30 minutes rather than the last 15 minutes of the first-half that’s for sure.
“We started incredibly well, so positive, so much energy and a lot of quality.
“Immediately after we scored the fourth we conceded a sloppy one and an unbelievable free-kick and then it was game on.
“Thank goodness we scored the fifth and then that allowed us to play a different game in the second-half and manage it a lot more.”
