Paul Merson was as frustrated as any Arsenal fan watching on against Bournemouth today and he’s now fearful that the game might be up for the Gunners.
Arsenal just didn’t turn up at The Emirates and Bournemouth had enough about them to deny the Gunners and also put the game to bed when needed.
It now means that Man City can catch the Gunners, making things seriously nervy when in reality, it should have been a cruise to the title.
Indeed, according to Paul Merson, Arsenal’s confidence will now be shot.
What do you think of Arsenal fans booing their own team vs Bournemouth?
Paul Merson explains why Arsenal’s confidence will now be at rock bottom
Merson, like every other Arsenal fan, simply couldn’t believe what he’d witnessed from Arsenal today.
And when asked about what it will do to the team’s confidence levels, Merson admitted it’s not good at all.
“Oh, it’s smashed it to pieces. Absolutely,” Merson commented on Soccer Saturday.
“All of a sudden, if Man City win their three games, they’re level on points. Plus, they’ve got two games to make the goal difference up. If they beat Arsenal, soon as you start winning 2-0, that’s a four-goal swing.
“You’ve got to keep away from the papers, press and social media because everyone will be saying, ‘here comes the melt.’ That is a terrible result today. A real bad performance as well. No energy, no, ‘let’s go and take the game to Bournemouth.’ It was sloppy.”
Mikel Arteta has to get Arsenal to embrace their position
There is no point in sulking about this result. It’s now done and dusted and cannot be reversed.
What Arsenal and Mikel Arteta can do is spend the next few days getting in the right mindset and ready to go and win in Europe. From there, focus will be all-in on Manchester City.
That City game is not about going to The Etihad and simply trying to avoid getting beat, it needs to be about Arsenal going there and showing why they are top of the table.
The Gunners need to be fearless, brave and ultimately, revel in the fact that they are under pressure as the top team in the Premier League.
The very best teams do that. They embrace the pressure and win when it matters. Come a weeks’ time, we could be looking at things from an entirely different perspective.
But it’s down to this manager and group of players to make sure that changes.
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