Former Gunner foresees another painful defeat against Chelsea

Paul Merson is half-expecting another Liverpool-esque defeat this weekend when Arsenal take on Chelsea.

The Gunners lost 4-0 to their Premier League rivals at Anfield a matter of weeks ago, in what can only be described as a disastrous display by our stars, but we have since shown grit to win our next two outings.

Despite our recent upturn in fortune, Merson can see us being trampled on by PL champions Chelsea, who he claims could be Champions League contenders this term.

“I think Chelsea have a genuine chance of winning the Champions League,” Merson wrote.

“They have done great to turn things around after a difficult start.

“They have so much guile now Eden Hazard is back, a good system and players who can hurt you as well as those who can defend.

“They just need another striker. They are one player short of being virtually unstoppable.

“It won’t matter against Arsenal though. If Chelsea go a goal up, you know Arsenal will capitulate.

“It could even end up being another match where, if you’re an Arsenal fan, you will need to turn your head away from the TV – just like against Liverpool.”

The Blues certainly impressed in running away with the title last season, but had the advantage of no European football also, and their squad isn’t the biggest which could hampèr them in my personal opinion.

They are playing good football at present, and look dangerous all over the pitch, but they are far from impenetrable, and if we could pick up where we left off against Cologne, we could well strike first which could be crucial.

Are we destined to lose before it has even begun? Are Chelsea at a different level to our side? Is Merson always too critical of our team?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Chelsea Merson

46 Comments

  1. So do I. If you guys are into betting. I’d place a draw no bet on chelsea. Great odds at 1.30. It seems to be a safe bet and the odds are pretty good looking at risk reward factor. Go for it guys. If chelsea win you get monetary compensation (you’ll feel like kroenke, trust me its a lot better than the feeling of your team winning lol) a draw you get your money back and arsenal get a decent result which should make you happy. If arsenal win then you lose some cash and you’re really happy because your team won! Life is all bout being happy guys.
    I don’t see us winning unless its a one off performance or chelsea have an off day..

  2. i knw everyone is really devastated with hw things are panning out witth the team but it doesnt warrant anyone throwing in the towel even before the battle commences. I dnt think chelsea will ve an easy ride against us tmrw. Its odd but it does seem like draw waiting to happen.

  3. I wouldn’t listen to somebody who put Rudiger ahead of Koscielny ,Moses ahead of Bellerin,Alonso ahead of Kolasinac,Morata ahead of Lacazzete
    He never forgave Wenger for shipping him out

    1. Plenty of ex ARSENAL players have been criticising Wenger … and they were not all shipped out ! Not many ex players praising him about football – only in terms of his being a decent man.

      1. Not really…many have attributed their growth and development to him….Viera, Henry, Nasri….etc. The recent criticism are not jstr from ex-players….it’s just the frustrations everyone seem to be having at this time. I wouldn’t read so much meaning into what it means to ex-players versus AW coaching prowess.

  4. I like Merson but he doesn’t seem to ever have a good word to say about Arsenal. You wouldn’t think he used to play for them! I’m praying he’ll be proved wrong!

    1. I am praying we survive too. But Merson did not used to be so critical. He is sick – as so many of us are – of daft team selections, an obviously undrilled defence and the relentless quest for beautiful attacking football at the expense of a tactically sound game plan. For 10 years – ever since he had no ready made defence – he has struggled. For fans it has been a nightmare … and then Kroenke reinstates him !

      1. Personally, I’m tired of Merson’s negativity. He rarely has a good word to say about Arsenal. Charlie Nicholas, on the other hand can say practically the same thing as Merson but comes across as someone who is less bitter and has love for the club.

        I’m sorry but I’ve heard Merson’s opinions of Arsenal for more than 10 years and he comes across to me to be what I consider to be an unintelligent flip-flop reactionary pundit who will within a game judge a team based merely on the score line – rather than the performance in front of him. He may have a point about what he has said about the up and coming game against Chelsea but over all I can’t take him seriously, that is despite him being an ex Gooner.

        1. Paul Merson is not my favourite pundit either. Listening to him you would think this was a player who always gave his best and performed every week. My memory of him back in the day was he had plenty of games where he went missing. Same for Charlie Nicholas who to be fair had more bad days than good back in the 80’s. Merson needs to be much less tabloid in his approach.

  5. Merson is one of a host of TV pundits who invariably gets it wrong.Chelsea may well beat an Arsenal side which is weak at CB and CM but the chances of them winning the Champions league is as remote as Merson gaining a PHD.

  6. id be slightly more comfortable having coquelin fit for this fixture as to me there’s a gulf in class between football players of the year kante and hazard and our midfield composite. it might be an idea to put wilshire in the mix early on so as any mid-field mistakes are kept to a minimum.

    im more confident in our propensity towards giving their defence some worries its inconceivable that with the attack options we have at our disposal, that we would fail to score. chelski cannot equal sanchez when the player brings his A-game. im hopeful the ref has a keen eye for spotting diving and related trickery which has featured in their game.

  7. It’s a strange feeling being Arsenal these days, because I now know what it’s like to be a fan of small clubs that aren’t expected to do anything. Clubs such as Burnley, Palace, Bournemouth, etc.

    No disrespect intended, but fans of those clubs expect to lose most of the time they play a top team, especially away from home. They know a win is possible on any given day, but it would still be a huge shock if they were to win, like Burnely’s win at Chelsea for example.

    It’s now like that for Arsenal. Our record is so bad against top teams, especially away from home, that I wouldn’t be surprised if teams at the bottom of the table have a better record than we do. We don’t go into these tough games confident of victory like we did 10/15 years ago. Confidence is long gone, and has now been replaced by hope. We “hope” we can win, but would take a draw right now, and that’s how far we have fallen.

    I go into Sunday’s game “hoping” for victory, but very much expecting defeat, coupled with yet another insipid performance.

    1. “It’s now like that for Arsenal. Our record is so bad against top teams, especially away from home, that I wouldn’t be surprised if teams at the bottom of the table have a better record than we do. We don’t go into these tough games confident of victory like we did 10/15 years ago.”

      You should take a look at how much has changed in a decade!

      FYI: Qatar just got the French government to ask for the end of sanctions on in by the Saudis and few others.

  8. so how much we have fallen from grace..now everybody just talk Shiit about us and with us fans being the joke in every pub…sport bar even in every argument…
    on Thursday when we were a goal down against Koln two Chelsea fans who just walked into the bar where I was watching the game were like ” look at them, see how pathetic they are. I can’t imagine how anyone supports a club without ambition”. normally I let stuff like that get to me, but not anymore have gotten so use to people pundit talking Shiit about us. or kronke, wenger the players making me look like a fool. but I just keep hoping because that’s all I have left.

    1. That is in part due to fans thinking we have the resources to win the EPL.

      Get it? (If you look at it from their perspective, it is funny that many here think Arsenal can win the EPL if we had another manager.)

      Until we all collectively focus on getting 200M to Wenger for the next summer, there is no point in complaining.

      Instead, we can try to support the Manager and the Players, hoping for a one off EPL win somehow, even though it is obvious that City, United and Chelsea are a level above.

  9. Why are you people getting angry?! Which arsenal fan think that arsenal can beat chelsea on their own turf…lets not kid ourselves coz we cnt hide from the truth, the best result we can get from that game is either a draw or we loose ‘decently’

    1. If you also said that this is due how teams have access to money, and that with Chelsea they “owe” the owner a 1B, then it would have made more sense.

  10. What do you expect from Judas Merson, we all know he supported Chelsea as a kid. He fancied the Cherries to get something last week, even though he put us down for 2-1 He was alright picking up he’s wages from Arsenal when he was making he’s name, or getting some help when he was sleeping on a park bench. Don’t worry ,there’s others out there who’ve turned on us like Smith, Dixon and co, but we’ll be back and when we are they’ll all come running back talking about their great days playing for the Gunners

  11. We have shown we can beat the best, we have shown we can lose to “nobodies”. With Arsenal, it is difficult to tell which team shows up. The team knowing it has to fight for 90+ minutes and bring discipline and shape for that period or the team that tries to “out-play” and ‘out think’ their opponent and as a result appear to play two gears slower than the opposition and gets over-run.

  12. well he’s right, when chelsea play their usual football, chances are we will get nowhere near scoring, and will be exposed at the back. if wenger will start xhaka, ramsey and ozil in his 3-4-3 formation, and will paly a highe line of defense and try to dominate possession, we will get crushed. ozil must be dropped, we need to adsorb pressure and play counter attacks with a 4-3-3 formation. except some games against chelsea and manU in the last two seasons, when we won comfortably because they played so bad, our only big game wins in the last few seasons were when we defended and palyed counter attacks (manC, bayren). since we can’t assume chelsea will capitulate easy like out two wins last season, we need to change tactics.
    but the old fool will try to play like barcelona, and will prove merson right.

  13. It’s a blessing in disguise when Ramsey, Ozil, and Coquelin have picked slight knocks. If these three players don’t feature tomorrow, then Arsenal will win. Arsenal have to inject pace upfront. Sanchez, Lavazzette, and Walcott. Welbeck playing behind striker. Alonso and Moses will not overlap in fear of counter attacks. If Ozil and Ramsey are included in the starting X1 then moses and Alonso will push our defence too hard. MARK MY WORDS

    1. Walcott was poor last week. Even if he has got pace he has little else. Prefer Nelson to get a chance as he can go past people and cause trouble, much like Willian does for Chelsea. Walcott can’t dribble to save his life but would be happy if he’d prove me wrong.

  14. The defence is suspect against top quality opposition.Holding is for the future.
    Unless Wenger is willing to spend big to get a top quality cd,the gunners will
    continue to struggle let alone beat the top teams

      1. All i hear is don’t play Ozil, Xhaka, Ramsy and e’tal and it made wonder if arsenal beat Chelsea with rented players 3 times out 4 since last season. I have nothing to say to Merson about his predictions. He has never given us any chance against Chelsea and from where I’m standing it is Arsenal 3, Merson 1 sorry Conte’s Chelsea 1

  15. all I just want to do tomorrow is support the team… our support will count more now than any negative talk… I will not bury this team when the are yet to die.. we can do it gunners

  16. What a load of r…..
    Merson has for years been more positive in his predictions of our games, than reality warranted, and than the actual results showed.
    Now, he is suddenly an idiot, because he is calling it as it is??
    Chelsea are of course huge favourites to beat us, if you pay just a little attention to how we perform against top teams in the League with Wenger in charge.
    That is the simple truth, whether we like it or not.

      1. Maybe you should read, before you comment. My point is Wenger can’t make us compete against the top teams in the League. I agree, we have been doing fine in the cups, but does that really count??

          1. Try telling that to the 100,000 people that turned up to the victory parade. Or tell that to Tottenham fans that haven’t won it for 25 years. It may not matter to you but to real Arsenal fans it is always a brilliant day Especially beating Chelsea!

  17. 3 Nil to Chelsea, the present squad Arsenal have will beat the smaller Teams but will lose to the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City Man Utd ans sadly the Spuds. Why is this because WENGER is in Charge it is a simple as that.

    1. Precisely. The anger should not be directed at Merson. It should be directed at the man responsible for Arsenal becoming a team, which top teams walk all over.

  18. I hope not but I guess we will just need to wait and see.

    We lost 4-0 to Liverpool who lost 5-0 to City who are currently winning 3-0 at half time against West Ham. I hope the Liverpool match was just a fluke bad day at the office but if not the United, City, Liverpool should finish ahead of us.

    Then you have Chelsea and Spurs. Both seem tough top clubs.

    If we don’t perform well against Chelsea, I think finishing 6th place is a real possibility.

    I don’t expect us to beat Chelsea. I will be fine with a draw, but anything less will be quite devastating for our morale and prospects for the season

  19. Its pathetic when ex players berate their former club. Statements such as these are the kind that breed inferiority complex in the minds of the current players. I don’t know about u guys but I will never throw in the towel before the D-day. Chelsea are not superior to Arsenal in my own opinion I don’t know about u.

  20. Drop Walcott, he seriously don’t deserve a place.

    Other than running, he has nothing to offer.

    He is number one choice for Deadwood no 1.

    But don’t be surprised to see his contract renewed. AW just cannot swallow his pride to admit Walcott is a Deadwood.

  21. Lets be sincere to our self Arsenal can’t beat Chelsea at home , is possible BT nt dis present team . and arsenal will nt win league under arsene Wenger.

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