Match of the Day pundits address Mikel Arteta's 'damning' Arsenal decision

Mikel Arteta's call to keep Raheem Sterling on the bench during Arsenal's recent draw against Manchester United has sparked debate among Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Sterling's stint at Arsenal, following a loan move from Chelsea last summer, has been challenging, with only 22 appearances across all competitions this season. The 30-year-old's struggles were highlighted at the weekend when Arteta chose not to deploy him against United, despite Arsenal's urgent need for a goal.

The decision to bring on Kieran Tierney instead of the former Manchester City player, with the scoreline delicately balanced at 1-1, further underscored Sterling's difficult time since moving to north London. However, on The Rest is Football podcast, Lineker suggested that the England star might be experiencing burnout.

The former Leicester City striker posed the question to Shearer and Richards about Sterling's predicament at Arsenal, referencing Arteta's decision to favour Tierney over him. Shearer conceded that the substitution snub was "damming".

Lineker said: "Yeah, a little, it's a bit sad. He's been a brilliant player for club and country for a long time. I wonder the fact that he played so much football at such an early age and brilliant football as well. Maybe that's taken a toll on him or something, or maybe he's lacking a bit of confidence or who knows? You know, he's not ancient, is he?"

Sterling burst onto the Premier League scene at just 17 with Liverpool. Since then, his career has seen him turn out for City, Chelsea, and now Arsenal, racking up an impressive 653 top-flight appearances across club and country, reports the Mirror.

Shearer concurred with Lineker's assessment: "Yeah, you can tell even that a bit of a spring has gone, and his belief in the confidence when he gets the ball is not that quite that same.

"I don't know, energy or whatever it is that, and I guess that's maybe confidence as well, because he hasn't played and when he has played, he hasn't done so well."

However, Richards offered a different take on Sterling's recent struggles, attributing them to a loss of sharpness, adding: "He's played in a team which was winning every single week at Man City, gone to Arsenal for another, you know, a high pressing team, but he's just missing that sharpness, you know."

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