“Make no sense to start him”, “Not even a footballer anymore” - Fans celebrate after Arsenal star gets dropped from line-up to face West Ham

Arsenal fans took to social media to express their excitement after manager Mikel Arteta excluded Raheem Sterling from the starting lineup to face West Ham. The sides are set to face off in the Premier League on Saturday, February 22, at the Emirates Stadium.

Sterling joined Arsenal from Chelsea last summer on a season-long loan. However, the winger has struggled to find his footing at the north London club and has often been named on the bench.

In the Gunners’ last Premier League game against Leicester City, Arteta decided to hand the 30-year-old a rare start amid their injury crisis. Much to the dismay of the Arsenal faithful, Sterling once again failed to impress.

Sterling was left out of Arsenal's line-up against West Ham United, with Mikel Merino starting as the striker and Leandro Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri on the wings.

The decision seems to please some Gunners faithful, who took to X (formerly Twitter). A fan wrote:

''I am glad. After the shambolic showing by Sterling, it will make no sense to start him. If you cannot stay focused enough to stay onside against Leicester, it probably will not happen against West Ham.''

Another tweeted:

''Joke of the day. Sterling is not even a footballer anymore. He is now a bus passenger.''

Another expressed excitement at the winger's exclusion from the starting XI:

''Arteta is so tired of Sterling'' a fan wrote.

''I think sterling time is just over'' another wrote.

''Thank you for dropping Sterling'' another wrote.

''Sterling is nothing to write home about,'' one fan tweeted.

''Those of you moaning about Sterling’s exclusion, have you being watching him play for Arsenal?'' a fan queried.

"Sterling doesn’t have to play any of the Arsenal games again," a fan chimed in.

''It’s going to be a tough one'' – Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on playing against West Ham

Mikel Arteta talked about his side’s Premier League clash with West Ham ahead of the London derby. The Gunners will be looking to reduce the daylight between them and league leaders Liverpool to five points after the Reds dropped points against Aston Villa on Wednesday.

When Arteta was asked about closing the gap to five points in the pre-match press conference, he said (via the club’s website):

"We have to do our job and it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow against West Ham. If we do that, we’ll be looking at that game on Sunday. With 13 games to go there’s still a lot to play for and you can see how difficult it is for everybody to win football matches, so we need to be there."

The Gunners are in the second position on the table with 53 points after 25 games.