Arsenal host Liverpool in a massive Premier League match on Super Sunday and Paul Merson believes the Gunners’ title hopes are over if they lose.
“This is a big football match, huge football match. I’ll go as far as saying if Arsenal get beat here, I think they’re out of it. I really do.
“I hope they’re thinking like I’m thinking,” he tells Sky Sports.
“Because if they lose this, they go seven behind Liverpool. I don’t see Man City not beating Southampton. So they will be seven or six points behind the two teams that were their biggest threat at the start of the season.
“That’s a lot of points, especially the way these teams are winning football matches. They beat the lesser teams. The gulf is massive at the moment.
“I would be shocked if Arsenal lost this and went on to win the league. I would be absolutely amazed. I would be flabbergasted. They are not just chasing one team down, they are chasing two.
“I know everybody will be sitting at home and everybody will be going, oh, there are 29 games left.
“But, at the start of the season when there were 38 games left, if I had said I will have Man City and Liverpool to win the league and you can have Arsenal but you have got to give me a seven and six points head start, you would not do it in a million years.
“And you would not do it now with 29 games to go.
“So, all this about this 29 games to go, Arsenal would be out of the title for me. They would be out. I just cannot see how they would catch it up with the figures that Man City have put up over the last five or six years.”
Arsenal missing big players
The Gunners are not helped by injuries and suspensions to some of their most important players. Martin Odegaard, Arsenal’s captain, has not played since August, and William Saliba is out following his sending-off in the defeat to Bournemouth.
Bukayo Saka also missed that game against the Cherries and Mikel Arteta will be desperate for the winger to be available for the game against Liverpool.
“Oh, Saka’s majorly important. Majorly important. Down the right-hand side, him and Ben White have a great understanding and when Odegaard comes and joins him down that side as well, it’s a really strong right-hand side for Arsenal.
“He is a must. He performs week in, week out. He comes up with solutions. He is a winner. When people either double up on him or they want to shut him down on his weaker foot, he always comes up with different ideas. I am a big fan of Saka.
“The name of the game is keep on producing season in, season out. And he does that every single season. So, absolute credit to him. He will be a massive miss if he does not play.
“You know, you’re talking Saka, Odegaard, Saliba, they are their three, you know. You put [Declan] Rice in the equation there but they are their big, big four players.
“And if those three are not playing, I think Liverpool have got to make hay while the sun shines. I don’t see a better opportunity for Liverpool than this coming this weekend, if those players are not fit to play for Arsenal.”
Riccardo Calafiori also suffered an injury in the midweek win over Shakhtar Donetsk, further disrupting a defence that has been built on strong partnerships.
“Saliba’s stats are because he’s playing with Gabriel as a partnership and that’s what it is. When he plays with Gabriel, they’re an amazing partnership.
“They are like Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke at Manchester United when they used to play up front. You get partnerships around the pitch and they are that strong. You take one of them out and they are not the same.”
Any hope against Liverpool?
Liverpool are top of the Premier League table having won all but one of their matches in all competitions under Arne Slot this season.
But the more controlled approach of the Dutchman does make it less likely that Arsenal will be blown away. Expect a tight contest despite Arteta’s injury issues.
“The only advantage, where I do have a case for Arsenal, is that they are always going to be in the football match. This is not Jurgen Klopp’s team that are going to come and be hectic and steamroller Arsenal.
“They are not going to look and go, right, they have got three of their four best players out so we’re going to go and have a right go at them. Liverpool play the way they play and that is steady.
“I am not saying it is safe football, but it is a lot safer than what it was under Klopp. And I think Arsenal are always going to be in this football match and that is what gives them a little bit of a chance this weekend.”
Watch Arsenal vs Liverpool live on Sky Sports Premier League this Sunday; kick-off 4.30pm