"He had a tough time with a really bad injury and people forget that," Arteta told BBC Radio Merseyside.
"He's been through a difficult period, he has stayed, he looks happy, so hopefully the Yak will score goals."
Yakubu missed a number of gilt-edged chances in the 0-0 draw at Fulham last week and Arteta believes the difficult time he had at the World Cup in South Africa may have affected the striker's confidence.
"He had a really difficult time, a lot of crowd got into him after he missed that (chance against South Korea)," he said.
Arteta, who had a recent spell as captain, has only scored one goal himself this season.
But the talented Spaniard feels if he had had a little more luck in front of goal his tally would be much more impressive.
"I think I've hit the bar twice already," he said.
"I know if I keep getting into situations the goals are going to come, so I just need to keep trying.
"If you don't try, you don't score."
When you look at the table every day, we don't want to be there and I don't think we deserve to be there to be honest
Mikel Arteta
Everton's failure in front of goal has in part contributed to them sliding to the bottom of the Premier League table.
Arteta believes the Blues' performances merit much more than the three points they have collected from their first six games.
"When you look at the table every day, we don't want to be there and I don't think we deserve to be there to be honest," he said.
"But in the same breath we've been playing well, we haven't been getting points so we need to put things right."
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport