Van Persie has previously admitted it will take Sterling some time to get up to speed after his time on the sidelines at Chelsea. He told reporters: “Raheem trained last Tuesday, for the first time with the group. That was his first time in a group in several months. When you see the choices he makes in small moments, how quickly he thinks and switches, you see that other players also see it and respond to it. That’s how it works.
“You also want to show each other that you’re good too. That was evident in those training sessions. In my opinion, he’s a player of exceptional quality. He showed that in those training sessions. I enjoyed seeing that, and so did his teammates.
“How match-fit are you after not playing for six months? It depends on how he gets through tomorrow. That looks positive. But we have to be careful with him. We’ll talk to Raheem about that. He needs some time to be able to play 90 minutes. That won’t be Sunday and it won’t be next week either. But we’ll try to get there as soon as possible. We’ll do it our way, as quickly as possible, but responsibly and calmly.”