Mikel Arteta sends message to Raheem Sterling amid Arsenal struggles: ‘We really need him’

Arteta needs his forward to rediscover his form ahead of Saturday’s home match against West Ham

Sterling struggled in Arsenal’s win at Leicester (Getty Images)

Mikel Arteta has called on Raheem Sterling to rediscover his form to ensure Arsenal remain hot on Liverpool’s heels in the Premier League title race.

Injuries to Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli leaves only Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri and Sterling as the club’s recognised forwards.

But although Nwaneri, 17, impressed in Arsenal’s win at Leicester last weekend, Sterling was withdrawn after 69 minutes with his replacement, Mikel Merino, scoring a match-winning brace.

Sterling, on loan from Chelsea, has started just four league matches and scored only once this season – in a Carabao Cup win against Bolton at the Emirates in September.

But he could be handed another start in Arsenal’s fixture against West Ham at the Emirates on Saturday. A victory against their London rivals would take Arteta’s squad five points behind Liverpool, who play Manchester City at the Etihad a day later.

Asked if Sterling could still have a big impact on Arsenal’s campaign, Arteta replied: “He has to have it because we really need him.

“Raheem is so experienced, and like many other players, we know that what you did yesterday is not whether it was really good or not. That could be relevant to the next game, to the next action. He’s fully focused, he’s trained really well this week, and he is ready to go again.”

Arteta hailed Sterling’s arrival from Chelsea on deadline day, but the former England international, a four-time title winner with City, has been well short of the form which transformed him into one of the league’s best players.

Put to Arteta that the 30-year-old could be struggling with his confidence, Arteta continued: “Hopefully not because we try to give him as much as possible, but that’s a question for him.

“We are all behind him, we want the best for him and and it is important that we need his best. We need players only with that mindset, to impact the team. He is doing everything that he possibly can to make it work.”

Following his late brace against the Foxes, Merino could again be used as a makeshift forward, while defender Ben White, sidelined since November, is again in line to feature having returned to the bench last Saturday.

Havertz’s injury provided a hammer blow to Arsenal’s title aspirations, but Arteta admitted their win at Leicester, coupled with Liverpool drawing two of their last three fixtures, has provided hope that the title race is still on.

“Yes, they (the players) can recover or flick the switch and say, ‘OK, what is the opportunity now? To do something, again, different, special for him (Havertz), for the team-mates, for all the effort that we have put in for so long again and everything that happened,'” said the Spaniard.

“And it’s been very re-energising as well to say, ‘OK, let’s see if we can do that together again’ and whatever gaps we have within the team, we’re going to fill them in a different way with different players in different ways.

“We have to do our job. And it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow against West Ham. But if we do that, obviously, we’ll be looking at that game on Sunday.”