Raheem Sterling could make his Arsenal debut in the north London derby against Tottenham after the international break.
Tottenham’s biggest rivals are Chelsea and Arsenal – and now Sterling will rep both, so it’s going to make him even more unpopular with the Spurs fans.
Arsenal secured Sterling’s loan signing from Chelsea on deadline day, but he didn’t feature during their 1-1 draw against Brighton on Saturday.
Sterling watched on from the stands as Declan Rice was shown a controversial red card and it turned the tide towards Brighton’s favour as they ended up earning a drama-filled point.
Erling Haaland was quick to shut down that Arsenal have slipped up, but with another tough away day around the corner for the Gunners, they simply can’t afford to drop more points because that Manchester City trip isn’t far away either.
Yes, Arsenal outplayed Tottenham the last time they met, but you just know Ange Postecoglou’s side, especially in front of their fans, are going to be as hungry as ever for three points and much-craved bragging rights.
Ian Wright is looking forward to the match already and he has made an early prediction about Sterling and what he might just do.
You don’t expect the 29-year-old to start, but you expect him to feature on the bench and be ready to make his debut in the biggest of games for his new club.
Wright thinks ‘everything is falling into place’ with Sterling’s arrival because he backed him to score on debut and become an ‘instant hero’, as he told The Premier League.
Raheem Sterling debut in the north London derby
“I think Saka is excited about that because of the player that is coming,” said Wright about the Sterling signing.
“No, (I can’t stop smiling). Everything is falling into place because the first game he is able to play is against Tottenham. It’s just falling into place. He comes on against Tottenham, or whatever, and scores. He is an instant hero. Instant.”
Raheem Sterling has something to prove
Given what he has won on the club stage, you would feel that Sterling doesn’t have much to prove and the majority of players would be more than delighted with his career.
But Sterling has effectively been told he isn’t good enough for Chelsea and now is his time to shut a lot of critics up.
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All of this suits Arsenal because their new capture is going to unleash all his anger out on that pitch.
And Sterling has proven in the past that if he gets going, then he is one of the best forwards in the Premier League, so Spurs might just feel his wrath in a few weeks.
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