Guns cause a Ster

INEFFECTIVE RAHEEM FAILS TO SHINE

- Neil Moxley

RAHEEM STERLING hasn't been used as a last resort by Mikel Arteta.

But the time is coming when he might be.

With an injury crisis across his forward line, Arsenal's boss might have been looking for inspiration.

After all, with his experience and goals record, you would 30-year-old Sterling expect (left) to provide it.

And he still should have some juice in those legs.

He's 30 years of age, right, not 38 like Leicester's evergreen Jamie Vardy. But age waits for no one in football.

And with talents around like Ethan Nwaneri, time isn't on Sterling's side any more. The club's academy product is today's man.

If you took Mikel Merino out of the equation, 17-year-old Nwaneri looked by far the most likely to find the net.

He slammed two efforts against the upright and was lively all afternoon, playing with the kind of energy that was once Sterling's hallmark. But the teen star can't do it all on his own.

Arsenal's lack of firepower has been well-documented.