Tottenham Hotspur currently has control of fourth place in the Premier League table. If the north London club holds onto their spot, they’ll clinch UEFA Champions League football for next season.
Spurs are in the driver’s seat, considering their only difficult matchup left on their schedule is against Liverpool. Despite having all these factors in their corner, Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson isn’t sold on Tottenham.
Furthermore, Merson explains in his column for Sky Sports why Arsenal will still finish ahead of their north London rival even though The Gunners are coming off losses to Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion.
“I still feel Arsenal are in it because Tottenham have still got a Tottenham in them. I don’t mean that in a horrible way, but they still have got a Tottenham in them. Everyone was going mad about them, but they could’ve been blown away in the first half against Aston Villa,” Merson wrote.
“Villa should’ve been out of sight and they only have to have one of those days in the next seven weeks. The 4-0 win over Villa covered over the cracks. They did some great stuff, don’t get me wrong, but in the first half Hugo Lloris had to make save after save. So I’m still not convinced by Tottenham. The top four is still very much on for Arsenal.”
Both clubs are on a collision course to have the May 12th matchup be one of the more significant North London Derby’s in recent years, considering what will be at stake for whoever wins.
Nonetheless, Merson hopes that the Spurs, who crashed out in the FA Cup to Middlesbrough and fell to Burnley, make an appearance before the season ends and Arsenal can take advantage.
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Fair point, 3-1 at half time!
Ings’ 2 chances were more than half chances though. The lad Ramsey waltzed through the defence too and a very good save prevented the goal. That said, he should have scored.
My point is that no matter what happened in the second half, if Villa had scored a few and won we would all have said our performance in the first half was awful. Our second goal knocked the stuffing out of Villa and thankfully we came out on top.
This is a game of fine margins and by hook or by crook those margins were on our side. Next week could be entirely different and the top 4 race opens up again.
As long as we keep key players fit and injury free then we’ll be fine. Kane and Son and Hugo first.. I would probably agree with Merson if we’re forced to play too many poor players… Calling an addict names is pretty shameful gents. I don’t like Merse because of his Gooner playing days. But he should be commended for beating his demons.. Gazza my hero really has also turned it back round.
Why anyone listens to this wife beating, drug taking drunk is beyond me.
How this biased thicko remains a pundit, I don’t know and is one of the reasons why I would never subscribe to Sky Sports. He’s saying a team that got stuffed at Palace and then lost at home to Brighton have a good chance, meanwhile spurs will do a spurs. Does he think that Arsenal will not slip up again when they have even tougher games to come?
It’s like he’s never played the game as a professional, mind you he’s blown most of his brain cells away so I doubt he remembers anything about it…
Paul, I know all that coke and gambling frazzled a large part of your grey matter. However, when Spurs eventually have this terrible result, it would only mimic the recent form of Ar5ena1. Secondly, I would say your claims about ‘Spursyness’ are somewhat ignorant of the phenomenon now known as ‘Arseyness’. But hey, Woolwich might not lose again this season! 🤔 😆
Urm we scored first so no way we could have been 3-0 down! The only really clear cut chance they had was the Inngs miss from the chip tbf. The other chances were really half chances, but yes we were under the cosh.
But second half we blitzed them anyway so unless they had a 4-1 lead at half time we still would have won.
When a score changes the game changes, they go ahead and I don’t know if they continue gung ho
Villa weren’t ever going to be ‘out of sight’, hyperbole.
If it goes 1-1 hey guess what Villa might suddenly want to protect what they have, etc. That’s the game Mers, ye gods, if you’re chasing a game furiously you might create more chances as the other side sits back/weathers the storm.
Classic ‘what if’ism – also if Tottenham have a Tottenham in them…then what gave Arsenal got in them? Always collapsing/imploding when the heat is on.
I think the next 3 games will determine league positions…..we have Brighton & Leicester (H) Brentford (A) they have Southampton & Chelsea (A) United (H)
I cannot see them picking up 9 points….where as I can see us doing so
Arsenal and Spurs are capable of imploding, it is just a case who will do it the least! As stated, Merson is right about Villa. After the first half we could have been at least 3-0 down. Arsenal had more than enough chances to beat Palace, but the stars aligned and here we are. That’s the frustrating part, at least with Poch we’d know we would lose to City and beat everyone else and finish above Arsenal! At present we are flying high, well, as high as we can after avoiding being another Everton! Imagine if Conte hadn’t come. It is not worth thinking.
I think 4th place will be sorted by 12 May, in that it will be there to lose for either one of us by then. I am hoping that Arsenal do not beat Utd, but the way the mancs are playing I wouldn’t put any money on it.
What is guaranteed is Merson will change his mind every other day because he has no idea either. The sickener is he gets paid to have no clue!
I’ll just go with the first part of your sentence, Merson annoys me so much with his cliched bias! “Tottenham have got a Tottenham in them” what a load of drivel, Arsenal have lost their last two to Brighton and Burnley so what does does that make them. How about we wait and see how the season pans out
I don’t doubt Spurs will have an off day, it’s very likely. What team doesn’t?
That still means that Arsenal will need to perform for the rest of the season, and with some of the games they have left, that’s extremely unlikely.
Merson is a dick but it’s hard to disagree with his assessment of the Villa game.
Merson’s logic is warped. We had a good defensive display and kept a clean sheet whilst Arse conceded 3 against Palace and 2 at home to Brighton, so his conclusion is arse will finish in the top 4 based on their ability to concede goals rather than prevent that. What is going on inside his thick head?
The man who just the other week said Spurs were favourites. After Arsenal get thumped again and Spurs win again, he’s now changed his mind. Go figure.
Then again, he’s always had sh1t where his brains should be.
Enough already bugle head
Merson… The gift that just keeps on giving