Sky Sports’ Paul Merson believes Arsenal will still win the Premier League this season despite their Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City — but he thinks it will be the only trophy the Gunners lift.
Two goals from Nico O’Reilly gave City a 2-0 win at Wembley and ended Arsenal’s pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple. Mikel Arteta’s side remain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and FA Cup, and they hold a nine-point lead over second-placed City, with the two sides set to meet in the league on April 19.
‘Man City absolutely destroyed Arsenal’
Merson says City turned up in the second half and “absolutely gave Arsenal a footballing lesson at the highest level.” For about 25 minutes of the second half, he observed, Arsenal players were reluctant to keep possession, repeatedly booting the ball away and handing control to City. “And City destroyed them, absolutely destroyed them,” he added.
He called it a confidence-sapping defeat — the kind that leaves a dressing room thinking: “oh my God, we just got destroyed in the second half.” Still, regarding the Premier League, Merson believes Arsenal are too strong for the remaining opponents on their fixture list and will beat those teams. But, based on what he saw at Wembley, he does not expect Arsenal to win anything else besides the title.
Merson noted City remain in the FA Cup, and said he’d be surprised if Arsenal could go back to Wembley and beat them. In the Champions League he highlighted a potential semi-final against Barcelona, saying Arsenal lack the pace to trouble Barcelona’s high defensive line. He argued Arsenal’s forwards are not “electric” in the way players like Anthony Elanga or Anthony Gordon were when they caused Barcelona problems in the last 16, and he worried about what Barcelona could do to Arsenal.
‘Arsenal players not wanting the ball is pretty worrying’
Merson described Kepa’s error as a “bad mistake” but stressed the keeper wasn’t the only problem. He said eight of Arsenal’s outfield players were “getting ripped to shreds” and that only William Saliba and Gabriel emerged with any credit, calling them “outstanding” and saying they couldn’t have done more.
He argued that because of Kepa’s mistake, much of the criticism will focus on him, but insisted the other players did not deserve more than a five out of 10. Watching at Wembley, Merson said he kept an eye out for players who wanted the ball when things were going wrong — and found none. “Nobody wanted the ball,” he said. He urged any players who disagree to review the footage: “I’m afraid you weren’t.”
Despite the heavy defeat, Merson acknowledged positives: Arsenal are still competing on three fronts and the main priority should be winning the Premier League. He conceded that if any trophy were to be sacrificed, the Carabao Cup would have been the likeliest, but noted it’s still “another trophy gone missing, another lost final” and said Arsenal will face criticism this week.