Former Arsenal man, Paul Merson, has backed the Gunners to earn a win against Everton this weekend.
Mikel Arteta’s team has lost two of their last three matches in the league and will be keen to return to form when they face the Toffees in this fixture.
Rafa Benitez’s team has been in poor form in the last few weeks and were beaten 4-1 by Liverpool in their next game.
Merson admits Arsenal has lost to the teams tipped to finish inside the top four, which isn’t particularly a good sign, but he expects the Gunners to get the better of Everton with a 2-1 win.
He said via Metro Sport: ‘At the start of the Premier League season, the teams that we all thought would finish in the top four were Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United, in no particular order. Arsenal have lost to all these teams.
‘The way Everton are playing at the moment, however, Arsenal will back themselves this weekend. I think Rafael Benitez has about 90 minutes left at Goodison Park. When I played in the Premier League, Everton was one of the hardest places to win a match. The place was three-quarters empty this week, and Everton fans are clearly not having any more of Benitez.
‘Arsenal were unlucky the other day, and I thought they missed too many chances against United. They need to come back and win this game – they’ve been beating the teams they should be beating this season, and I think they’ll be able to turn the screws on Everton.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
The game against Everton is certainly a must-win. We have already missed too many chances to close in on the top four.
Dropping points against the Toffees again will even affect the morale of our players.
Against United, we showed we could beat any team if we can keep our composure for long enough.
Arteta’s team should be better prepared to beat the struggling Toffees in this fixture.
AdMartin- the word you used is “composure” and that is what we are missing.
If we had just kept our early shape against United, and remained composed and confident, we would have grown into the game. But we didn’t, and very seldom do. Our game plan is just so predictable in its unpredictability. As soon as they equalised the same old Arsenal under Arteta was there for all to see.
We played a team that is a shadow of the Inited sides of the past, and yet Arteta allowed us to just sit back and invite them onto us. A more confident manager would have been urging us to get at a side that are poor defensively and lacking in invention in midfield. We played poorly against a very average side. Been here before have we not?
The blame lies solely on Arteta and his tactics and team selection ruin continue to show him up as the incompetent novice he is.
Tavarez should be dropped and go with the tried and tested midfield of lokonga and partey upfront we rather give lacazette a chance. Odegaard to start also.