Mikel Arteta has taken responsibility for Raheem Sterling's underwhelming form at Arsenal, suggesting that he needs to give the loanee more game time.

Sterling joined the Gunners from Chelsea on transfer deadline day in August but has struggled to break into Arteta's starting eleven, with nearly half of his playing time coming in the Carabao Cup. The 29-year-old has been used mainly as a substitute and has only started one Premier League match.

His lack of impact led former Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore to label him as one of the season's flops. "Raheem Sterling has been a massive disappointment," Collymore told Metro. "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."

However, ahead of Arsenal's dramatic win over West Ham, Arteta defended Sterling, stating that the player was showing the right attitude in training and it was up to him to give Sterling more opportunities on the pitch.

"I would like to see him more to be fair and this is down to me," Arteta said, as per the Mirror. "He's trying his best.

"His application and commitment around the team has been exceptional and now it's time for me to give him more minutes. 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." Despite this, Sterling only played 16 minutes against West Ham and didn't make a significant impact for the Gunners.

Meanwhile, Bukayo Saka once again scored and provided two assists, with Leandro Trossard also contributing to the north London side's 5-2 victory.

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