Despite a fine run that has seen them go 10 matches without a loss, Arsenal are not good enough, according to a former player, Paul Merson.
The Gunners lost their first two Premier League matches of the 2018-19 season, but have won their last 10 games in all competitions, including seven in the league to move to within two points of of leaders Manchester City.
But Merson remains unconvinced about his former club – claiming that they have been “very, very fortunate” not to face any of the so-called big teams over the last couple of weeks.
“If they finish in the top four they’ve pulled up trees. They’ve done well to win 10 games on the trot, don’t get me wrong,” Merson told talkSPORT.
“But when they come up against Tottenham [Hotspur] and Liverpool, and especially Liverpool at the Emirates, I would be shocked if Liverpool didn’t win by three clear goals. They will rip Arsenal to shreds.
“I’m scratching my head, because Arsenal have won 10 games in a row and in half of those games they could have been behind by so many in the first half. But when they get going in the second half, when everything is rolling, then they’re the Harlem Globetrotters.
“I mean look at Mesut Ozil, he was phenomenal [against Leicester]. If he played like that every week, he’d be the best player in the world. So no, I can’t buy into it. I think they’ve been very, very fortunate. They haven’t played anybody yet, and you can’t play like this against teams like Liverpool.”
Arsenal are in action tonight in the Europa League as they face Sporting Lisbon of Portugal as they chase their 11th straight win in all competitions.
Born in Harlesden, North West London, Merson started his career at Arsenal, joining the club as an apprentice in 1984. After a loan spell at Brentford, then under manager Frank McLintock, he made his debut for the Gunners on 22 November 1986 against Manchester City, and gradually established himself in George Graham’s successful Arsenal side of the late 1980s.
By the 1988–89 season he was a regular on the right wing, at the end of which Arsenal secured the First Division title with a stoppage time Michael Thomas goal in the final game of the season against Liverpool at Anfield. Merson scored ten times that season, made his debut for the England U21 team, and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year.
In 1991, Merson achieved another league championship with Arsenal and had the highest goalscoring season of his career with 13 goals. He also won a double of the FA Cup and League Cup in 1993, scoring in the 1993 Football League Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday. A year later, he helped Arsenal win its first European trophy in 24 years as the Gunners defeated Parma in Copenhagen to win the 1993–94 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Merson’s career was put on the line in November 1994 when he admitted to having addictions to alcohol, cocaine and gambling. The Football Association arranged for Merson to undergo a three-month rehabilitation programme and he returned to the side in February 1995, just before the dismissal of George Graham as manager. Under caretaker manager Stewart Houston, Merson helped Arsenal reach the Cup Winners’ Cup final for the second season in a row, where Arsenal lost to Real Zaragoza at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
In 1995–96, Merson remained a regular first team player under Arsenal’s new manager Bruce Rioch and continued to play regularly during the 1996–97 season following the appointment of Arsène Wenger. In a somewhat surprising move, at the end of the 1996–97 Premiership campaign, in which Arsenal finished third, Merson was sold to relegated Middlesbrough in a £4.5million deal – making him the most expensive player ever signed by a non-Premiership club. Wenger had offered Merson a new two-year contract, but Merson elected to join Boro for a longer contract. Merson played 423 times for Arsenal and scored 99 goals in all competitions.
