Raheem Sterling has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season (Picture: Getty)
Raheem Sterling has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season (Picture: Getty)

Pep Guardiola has credited Mikel Arteta with playing a major role in Raheem Sterling’s sensational form this season.

The former Liverpool winger struggled to get to grips with the demands of his manager’s style last term, but has emerged as a key component of a Manchester City side that has made a blistering start to the new campaign.

Sterling has scored 10 times in all competitions and is likely to retain his place when the league leaders entertain Arsenal, the side he could have joined in the summer, on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger explored the option of making Sterling a makeweight in a deal that could have taken Alexis Sanchez to the Etihad Stadium, but City rejected that proposal out of hand, confident they could turn the 22-year-old into the freescoring winger he has become – and Arteta, who retired at the end of the 2015/16 season to take up a coaching role at the Etihad Stadium, has played a major role in his development.

Mikel Arteta is playing a key role at Manchester City alongside Pep Guardiola (Picture: Getty)
Mikel Arteta is playing a key role at Manchester City alongside Pep Guardiola (Picture: Getty)

‘I think he is enjoying scoring goals, he’s not scared,’ said Guardiola of Sterling. ‘Now he realises, wow, how fun and good it is to score goals. Now he is more focused on that.

‘Mikel Arteta is working many, many days after training sessions for the last action, for the control in the last moment. For his improvement, [Sterling] wants to stay there and shoot and improve with the goalkeepers.

‘He knows the striker has to score goals if you want to achieve the next step. You will not survive in the high-level teams as a striker or a winger if you don’t score goals.

‘All the strikers and wingers have seven goals or more, it’s not just Gabriel [Jesus]and Sergio [Aguero]. That is so important for us.’

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