It was lovely to see Raheem Sterling was doing Raheem Sterling things and another Arsenal outcast’s display suggests Mikel Arteta may have missed a trick earlier in the season.
In the You Know You’re Sh*t When… stakes, a fifth-choice left-back running at your defence from a novel No.10 role before cutting inside and bending one into the far corner may even rank above conceding seven at home to an Arsenal side that’s scored just two goals in their last three Premier League games.
The mandatory muted celebration owing to his 17 appearances for PSV Eindhoven followed from Oleksandr Zinchenko, who enjoyed shouts of SHOOOOOT for the remaining 73 minutes of a display which brought his lack of game time this season under scrutiny.
He’s started just four games across all competitions as Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber vie for his left-back spot, with Arteta’s preference for Kieran Tierney in that role particularly galling for a footballer who was heralded as key to the Gunners’ dramatic uplift in the 2022/2023 season when he arrived from Manchester City.
Concerns over his lack of speed and one-on-one ability became impossible to ignore for Arteta in his quest for defensive solidity above all, with his inclusion here in a role that required no such responsibility testament to that unease.
He was evidently given license to Make Things Happen, and did, with his technical quality that’s never been in question proving too much for PSV between the lines before his understandable lack of match fitness got the better of him as he drifted in the second half.
He’s got the obligatory Head On A Swivel, close control, an eye for passes he’s capable of playing nine times out of ten and the quality to give the goalkeeper no chance from the edge of the box – not something to be sniffed at given Arsenal’s current forward strife.
He’s no Martin Odegaard, but nor were Leandro Trossard or Mikel Merino when they played in that playmaker role as Arsenal won just one point in three games against Bournemouth, Liverpool and Newcastle in the captain’s absence while Zinchenko watched from the bench back in October.
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Arteta has been similarly, and perhaps more understandably, reticent to make use of Raheem Sterling amid a far more severe injury crisis. A fall from grace through his time at Chelsea hasn’t been reverted as hoped but extended to the point where we all wondered whether his career – at least at the highest level – was coming to a dispiriting and premature end.
The Arsenal boss waited until the 81st and 77th minutes against West Ham and Nottingham Forest respectively to introduce him as they chased goals in both of those games, and he was deemed surplus requirements despite the same need for a spark against Manchester United.
Short of dead rubbers like this, Sterling was set for a watching brief.
Even after what was his best Arsenal display by some distance, his role in the rest of the season will be limited, at least until Champions League qualification for next season is secure, but it was lovely to see Sterling doing Sterling things again.
The first assist was relatively simple but neatly done, with a neat pass played inside for Zinchenko after Sterling had drawn defenders to him with his back to goal. The second was excellent, as he beat two PSV players on the right wing before delivering a cross begging to be headed in by Declan Rice.
He’s not long for Arsenal. This will be his first and last season. But there was enough here, with further examples of the acceleration and nippiness that’s defined his career on show, to encourage suitors outside of Saudi Arabia or the MLS to consider taking a punt on Sterling, assuming his desire to play football is enough to see him waive a significant portion of the £17m he’s due next season at Chelsea by resting on his laurels.
It was great to be able to watch him and not squirm at his demise, just as it was nice to see Zinchenko’s enviable quality put to good use in an area of the pitch he could and perhaps should have been considered for in games of consequence earlier in the season when they were crying out for a playmaker.