Paul Merson Predicts Arsenal Won’t Win Premier League Title

Paul Merson fears that Arsenal have wasted their best ever chance of winning the Premier League title, and has already written off their hopes of finishing above Manchester City next season. After a 4-1 thrashing by the reigning champions, which hardly reflected City’s near total dominance, Pep Guardiola’s relentless winning machine moved to within two points of top spot with two games in-hand. Merson believes that the scenario renders Arsenal’s chances of turning the tide ‘impossible’, and that there is no hope of his old club usurping City next season. He said on Sky Sports: ‘Watching Man City here I just can’t see them losing. They’ve got to lose two football matches virtually before the end of the season. Phenomenal, they’re head and shoulders above anybody. I said it before, Arsenal had to take their chances, you might never get in that position again. Looking at that Man City team, there’s no way Arsenal are finishing above Man City next season. They don’t realise how close they’ve come this season but that’s it it’s impossible, nailed on.’ Despite this, Mikel Arteta insists that there is still much to play for, as Arsenal still have five games remaining, starting with Tuesday night’s London derby against Chelsea. He said: ‘We have to accept that the better team won. They were much better than us, they were more efficient, especially in the first half. They competed for every ball, with a different intensity, purpose and determination. We have to move on. We will be very silly if this affects us in the next few weeks, so this is a difficult one we have to accept the reality and then we have to move on. We have to try to help the players and paint the reality of where we are. Today they played against a team that were the best at that level. It’s who can keep at that level, that is the question.’