The Arsenal substitution that helps explain their crumbling title bid Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa: Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz fired the Gunners in front but Villa fought back through goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins in eight second-half minutes.
For all Sterling’s known talents, he is a 30-year-old winger of fading impact and it was enough to wonder whether the player he was replacing, an utterly knackered Gabriel Martinelli, might still have been the better option as the minutes ticked away.
But it was conspicuous that where Arteta made only one substitution, just minutes before kick-off here, Liverpool had snatched victory at Brentford thanks to a £60m substitute, Darwin Nunez, one of five luxury second-half changes by Arne Slot.
Right now they are unable to muscle the result away from their opponent, unable to bend the game’s narrative arc in their favour in the way Liverpool did at Brentford, and again in midweek when Diogo Jota came off the bench to sink Nottingham Forest.
Mikel Arteta waited 84 minutes to make a substitution in this match, and when he finally broke glass, his only tool was a decidedly blunt Raheem Sterling.
