Merson ‘half-scared’ Arsenal are going to bottle the title as Arteta ‘shocked’ him | OneFootball

Arsenal legend Paul Merson insists the Gunners’ 2-2 draw against Wolves in the Premier League on Wednesday night has “half-scared” him that they won’t win the title.

The Gunners let a two-goal lead slip on Wednesday with goals from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie putting them in a comfortable position with just 34 minutes left to play.

But Wolves hit back with a spectacular curling effort from Hugo Bueno, who scored his first Premier League goal, before a mix up between David Raya and Gabriel Magalhaes allowed Tom Edozie to strike the ball towards goal with Riccardo Calafiori bundling it over his own line.

That result means Manchester City can close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to just two points when they play Newcastle United on Saturday.

Man City now also have the title in their hands as they still have to face Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in April and Merson is getting worried.

Speaking after Arsenal’s latest setback, Merson said: “Manchester City now have Newcastle and Leeds and you’d take that over Tottenham and Chelsea.

“I wouldn’t want to be in Arsenal’s shoes if it [miss out on the title] happens again.

“I was quite shocked by Mikel Arteta’s post-match interview then. It’s the first time, really, that I’ve seen him not majorly positive.

“Usually, he comes out, ‘We’ve done this, we’ve done that’, and he’ll be saying, ‘Oh, we deserved it here, they deserved it here’.

“Instead of coming out saying, ‘We’re five points clear, as long as we don’t get beaten by Manchester City, we win the league’, but it wasn’t like that, though.

“I was a bit worried with that interview. You can only do so much to the team and when you’re watching that, there’s something missing. I can’t put my finger on it but there’s something missing.

“Something is missing and I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes if they don’t win the league this year.”

Later on his assessment, Merson recalled something Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira said to him after the Gunners lost to Manchester United last month.

Merson added: “If they don’t win the league this year, I remember Patrick Vieira saying before the Manchester United game, when he was on with Roy Keane, he said it was now or never.

“I’m starting to think that too now. I was very bullish about Arsenal winning the league. That’s half-scared me tonight.”

Reflecting on their performance, Arsenal winger Saka said: “Yeah, it’s very flat.

“We’re very disappointed with the result and especially with the way we played in the second half. Far from the standards we’ve set this season.

“It’s time for us to reflect on the last few performances and fix the issues immediately, so we can get back to winning games, go on a run and build momentum because we’ve lost that a bit right now.”