Arsenal should be more concerned with the unlikely prospect of dropping out of the top four than the almost impossible job of catching league leaders Liverpool, according to Paul Merson and Roy Keane.
While technically and mathematically true, one defeat since November does not exactly scream ‘going to let their eight-point lead over fifth-placed City slip’.
But that has not stopped former Arsenal midfielder Merson and one-time United skipper Roy Keane from expressing their concerns about Arsenal’s ability to hang in there and ensure they still have Champions League football next season.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Merson said: “Fifth in the league are nearer to Arsenal than what Arsenal are to first. I would be saying now ‘we’ve got to concentrate on making sure we finish in the top four’.
“Liverpool have got to lose virtually half of their football matches. They’ve lost one all season. It’s not going to happen. The league is over, it’s finished.”
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Keane added: “When the players speak after the game they’re on about ‘we just didn’t have any cutting edge’. You’ve got to have cutting edge. Cutting edge is very very important.
“It’s as if to say ‘well, when we get that back’, but if you’ve not got cutting edge and you’re not scoring goals, and you don’t look like you’re going to score goals, forget about making up any gap on Liverpool. I agree, you should be more worried about teams coming up behind you.”
Merson takes no particular solace from Arsenal having won 7-1 away to PSV in the Champions League earlier in the week, saying: “I thought it was covering over the cracks in midweek.
“Before that I saw them at Leicester, they scored two in the last ten minutes – Leicester let in goals everywhere, left, right and centre. They never looked like scoring against West Ham, they never really looked like scoring against Forest.
“You’re playing in the top league in the world, in my opinion. You’re playing for one of the top teams in the league – and you’ve got no centre-forward.
“You’re asking Mourinho (Mikel Merino) to go up there and play, he come on and got two against Leicester…yeah, it was last ten minutes, they’re good finishes, but they were bottom of the league at the time.
“You’re not going to win the league with him playing up front, and he looks lost playing up front. He doesn’t give you a presence, he doesn’t give you anything up front.”
In complete ignorance of the concept of Darwin Nunez, Merson went on: “No team ever wins anything without a good centre-forward, and Arsenal are suffering at the moment. I think it’s a worry now until the end of the season, because they’ve got to score goals and there’s no goals in them.
“It’s starting to get a little bit tight there, and Manchester City have got some nice fixtures at the moment. It wouldn’t surprise me if Man City, who I think are fifth at the moment, if they can catch Arsenal.”
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