Raheem Sterling has issued a verdict on his Arsenal debut which arrived in the 1-0 North London Derby win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The 29-year-old was a deadline day arrival for the Gunners on a season-long loan from Chelsea to join David Raya, Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino, Tommy Setford and Neto as summer signings.

Having joined after the registration deadline to be involved for last month’s clash against Brighton, Sterling has been forced to wait over two weeks to make his bow for Arsenal. In that time, with many players away for the September international break, Sterling was able to work directly with Arteta.

With the duo have worked together before, the Arsenal boss is fully aware of Sterling’s qualities with his verdict before the Tottenham game showcasing exactly what he already knew. “He looks great, first of all because he’s got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy, he’s at it,” he said in a press conference.

“When someone has that in their belly, you sense it straight away. We don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team. What I see is hunger, a player that wants to play every minute of every game and when that’s not the case, he’s not happy. He loves football, it’s what he likes doing every single day and I see that.”

Following on from those comments, Sterling was introduced in the 80th minute for his Gunners debut. At that point, the visitors had been put in front with Gabriel heading home Bukayo Saka’s corner midway through the second half.

Spurs pushed to equalise in the final 25 or so minutes but Arsenal held firm for a vital win that took them back to being just two points behind Man City.

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Following the victory, Sterling posted to his Instagram page with an “unbelievable” message for Arsenal fans. “Delighted to make my debut and hear you unbelievable fans. What a result by this team!! So much more to come Gunners. Let’s go [two red heart emojis].”

With Arsenal facing a further four fixtures this month in three different competitions, more opportunities are expected for Sterling. His cameo at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was mostly in the defensive third but he did enjoy once exciting run at the Spurs defence which showed his undeniable ability on the ball.