Paul Merson claimed that Arsenal always give their opponents a chance of a result but that his former side would have enough to overcome Newcastle United on Saturday.
The Sky Sports pundit highlighted this flaw of the Gunners’ and shared that their display against Cardiff told you everything that you needed to know about them.
However Merson ended up tipping a 2-1 victory in favour of the Gunners as he stated that the Magpies can’t be trusted to have a go against the perceived bigger teams in the division.
“Arsenal always give you a chance, as shown against Cardiff, that tells you everything,” wrote Merson for Sky Sports.
“However, Newcastle can’t be relied on to have a go against the big teams. They won’t create a million chances against the Gunners and Arsenal will create plenty. Newcastle will sit back and Arsenal will break them down at some point.”
OPINION
Merson has clearly taken a dig at Rafa Benitez’s defensive tactics with his prediction for their upcoming clash against Arsenal. The Sky Sports pundit clearly thinks that the Gunners can be exposed but that the Magpies aren’t willing to try their luck. Merson is basing these comments on the Magpies’ performances against Chelsea and Manchester City, where they sat deep in order to ensure that their opponents didn’t run away with the game. The Magpies may have lost to both Chelsea and Man City but that doesn’t mean Benitez was wrong to deploy those sort of tactics. The Magpies manager will have the last laugh if relegation comes down to goal difference and his side are spared due to his cautious approach. However it’s very likely that Benitez will be able to guide his side away from relegation once the season progress as he has enough magic up his sleeve to guide his side to achieving respectable results in the near future. As for The Gunners, Cardiff City did give them a scare ahead of the international break but their quality out shined any of their errors as they did win the match 3-2.
