Paul Merson thinks that as incredible as Manchester United's dramatic late win over Brentford was, it only papered over the cracks; meanwhile, the Sky Sports pundit also believes there are as many as seven teams competing for three Champions League berths this season
Wednesday 11 October 2023 10:26, UK
Paul Merson is back with his column where he dissects all the weekend's big talking points, including Arsenal's 1-0 home win over Man City, Tottenham staying joint top of the table, Man Utd's late show to see off Brentford and a highly competitive race for the Champions League.
The Gunners' last-gasp victory over the Premier League champions on Super Sunday ended a dispiriting run of 12 straight losses at the hands of City, while at the same time breathed life into the title race as Pep Guardiola's side lost back-to-back league games for the first time since December 2018.
Elsewhere, Man Utd also left it late to beat Brentford 2-1 at Old Trafford thanks to two injury-time goals from Scott McTominay, a result that has eased the pressure on manager Erik ten Tag, for now at least.
And Tottenham recorded a hard-fought 1-0 win at Luton to remain level on points with arch-rivals Arsenal at the top of the league, despite seeing midfielder Yves Bissouma sent off on the stroke of half-time - with Merson predicting a fierce battle to finish in the top five, which would almost certainly bring qualification for next season's Champions League.
They were missing Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, one of their best players last season, was a sub and not playing, so I would not have expected them to be peppering Arsenal's goal.
People are getting carried away, though, as Man City are slow starters. Do not get me wrong, it is game on, as they have just lost again, but they are the only team in the league who can win 13-14 games on the trot when it gets past Christmas.
You look at their squad and it is much bigger than everyone else's - any side that finishes above Man City this season will be league champions. There is no way two or three teams will finish above them.
It was always going to be like this though, without Rodri, they have just won the Treble, something that is nearly impossible. And you come back and it is just not clicking at the moment. But it will, I have no doubt about that.
I do not buy into the argument that they are tired though - they have a big squad, a lot of the teams have one and a half teams, but they almost have two teams.
It is the easiest thing in the world to get to the top, you have to have that desire, fight and goal, but that goal has now been taken away and they have to get back and start again and they are thinking, 'what do we do now?'
And as I said, they are not the greatest starters in the world, they never lead from pillar to post, so I do not worry about them.
To win having gone that long without beating Man City is a massive result as it gives Arsenal that belief they can go on and win the Premier League now. The important thing was not losing the game after the results the week before.
A couple of weeks ago you were thinking, 'if Man City win at Arsenal, they are going to go seven points clear of them and that is the end of it for Arsenal'.
Now all of a sudden they have beaten them and that will give them so much confidence - if they had beaten them just once last year, they would have gone on to win the league. So that is how big it is.
They did not play well though, it was a poor game and I thought both teams cancelled each other out. And when two very good teams come together, sometimes that happens as you have very good players on the pitch, people do their jobs properly and it is hard to get a very good game.
Fair play to the defenders on both teams, I thought they did very good, and they stopped people playing and that is their job. But it was not a game for the neutral, for the connoisseur, though, it was an interesting game.
And for Arsenal, it was an unbelievable result. It's also nice for the league as it brings a lorryload of teams into it other than Arsenal.
It was a polyfilla result, just absolutely covering over the cracks! But you have to cover over the cracks with something, and if it is polyfilla, it will cover them over, but they will open up again.
It was a poly-filler result, just absolutely covering over the cracks!
You have to start somewhere, though, they did not give up, they kept on going, and they got the result. But you need a couple more results before you can start saying they are going to be challengers, far from it.
But fair play though to come back as you have lost a couple of games before, you've lost at home to Galatasaray in midweek, and the pressure is on as you are playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world.
It was a funny game! I was sitting there in the first 15 minutes thinking, 'if Harry Kane was playing now, the game would have been over,' given the number of chances they missed.
Then Spurs did not look like scoring after that, bar the goal. But fair play to them, going down to 10 men and digging in and getting a result, you have to hold your hands up.
I know Luton are right down at the bottom, but it is still hard. Spurs gave away a few chances, but in the end I thought they dug in and showed a new side to Tottenham.
So fair play to them, they are top of the league at the moment - will they stay there? No, but that is not the point. If they were to get in the Champions League next season, then that would be an unbelievable season for Tottenham.
You take away Arsenal and Man City, who will finish in the top two this season, then there are seven sides competing for three remaining Champions League places - so it is going to come down to consistency.
All these teams at the moment can beat each other on their day, we have seen that already this season and it is whoever stays consistent. Man Utd are in the race for the top five. I like Rasmus Hojlund up front, he will score goals but they, like all these teams, just need to get some consistency.
Chelsea had a great result, but they now have some unbelievably tough fixtures coming up. If they can get through them and get enough points in those games, then you would have to say they are going to be a threat and they have a chance.
But they have not done it against the 'lesser' teams. I have said all along that I think Chelsea will be a better team away from home this season, as they have the pace on the break and teams have to come out. But when teams come and play six or seven behind the ball, they struggle badly as they do not have that guile to break them down.
Arsenal come to Stamford Bridge in a couple of weeks and they will have a go at Chelsea, so it will be interesting. But against the better teams, like Liverpool who had a right go, those are the games they have played well in this season.
So it will be interesting, but where Chelsea are in the league, teams will not want to play them as on their day, they can beat anybody and when Raheem Sterling is playing like he did at Burnley, then he is unplayable.
Watch Arsenal's next Premier League game away at Chelsea live on Sky Sports on Saturday October 21; kick-off 5.30pm
