He may be a former Arsenal player and you could even say he is a fan favourite because of the way he played and for what he achieved in more than 10 years with the Gunners, but Paul Merson has shown little love for the current Arsenal side in his role as TV pundit, although I feel that is largely due to the fact that he and Arsene Wenger are clearly not on each other’s christmas card list.
Some Arsenal fans will agree with the criticism that Merson often levels at the manager or the team in general or even at specific players like Mesut Ozil, but I for one feel that our former midfield star isd always looking for a negative spin about our club, so I was surprised to see a Metro report today in which Merson suggests that we are the right side and have what it takes to defy expectations this week and come away from the clash at high flying Man City with all three points.
Merson explained, ‘I cannot go for anything other than a City win given the way they play. If anyone is going to go there and win, believe it or not, you would go for Arsenal as they play a flamboyant way, they open the game up.
‘And if you are going to beat City, you have to have a go. There is no point sitting back and saying, ‘right, let’s try and nick something on the break,’ as they have too many good players who are going to break you open before the end of the game.’
I am not sure that Merson means these comments as a compliment to be fair, or that Wenger is going to send his players out with the instructions to make it an open game, but I can see his point. In the likes of Ozil, Alexis and Ramsey we do have a team that can create and likes to attack more than defend, but will that see us inflict a first defeat of the season on Guardiola’s league leaders, or will it just play into City hands?