“He’s more important than Saka”: Arsenal legend says Arsenal will win premier this season if 24-year-old player keep helping the team the way he did against Liverpool at Anfield
Sky Sports commentator Paul Merson has backed Arsenal to win the Premier League title this season by becoming a different team to last season.
In the previous season, the Gunners were at the top of the table for more than eight months but failed to finish on top after poor results.
Mikel Arteta’s team has continued to progress after that setback. After Christmas, they currently top the table with 40 points in 18 games.
Merson said on Sky Sports The Debate that the Gunners have learned from their mistakes and are a different team this season.
The former Gunners star added that 24-year-old Declan Rice has taken them to another level and believes the London giants will win the title this time around.
He said: “Rice is the best goal scorer in the world right now, Arsenal are a different team now, they learned a lot last season and with Declan Rice they have taken it to the next level. I think they will win it now – in my opinion Arsenal is now a team.”
Arsenal face a tough challenge for the title
For most of the previous season, the Gunners were chased by Manchester City, who eventually stumbled across the finish line with uneven results.
Their challenge has only intensified during this period. They are threatened not only by Pep Guardiola’s men, but also by Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
They are currently just six points off fifth-placed City, who have one more game in hand.
Arsenal are not playing at their best in the final third compared to last season, but they have still secured positive results with good defensive play.
The presence of Rice in front of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes made the Gunners hard to beat, but they need to find the same consistency in the final third.
The club has no worries about scoring goals at the Emirates Stadium, but they must repeat that on the road to give themselves the best chance of winning the league.
Transfermarkt.com Statistics
