FORMER Arsenal star Paul Merson has labelled the Gunners’ upcoming title clash against Manchester City “make or break.”
Mikel Arteta’s men dropped points for the second straight game as they were held to a controversial 1-1 draw by Brentford.
Arsenal felt the Bees’ equaliser should not have stood after VAR failed to draw up lines for a potential offside from goalscorer Ivan Toney.
But thoughts have already turned to Wednesday’s highly-anticipated battle with defending champs Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s men moved within three points of Arsenal after beating Aston Villa 3-1 on Sunday.
And although they have played a game more, City can move level with the Gunners should they win at the Etihad.
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Merson now believes Arsenal’s season will be defined by the game, with a reverse fixture still to come in April.
The ex-Gunner reckons his former side will have to play out of their skin to achieve a result.
And Merson is tipping Guardiola to beat his old assistant Arteta to set up a mouth-watering title battle for the remainder of the season.
Merson told Sky: ‘It’s a hard game coming up now. A big game Wednesday night.
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“If you want to win Premier League titles, any league title, it’s how you bounce back.
“It’s all about timing. At the start of the season you probably think, ‘Brentford at home, not the worst’ but they’re bang in form and played like a good football team, a clever football team.
“When they go 1-0 up you’d expect them to hold on and they didn’t.
“It’s a massive football match on Wednesday. I think it’s make or break. If Man City go and win the game, I don’t see Arsenal coming back from that.
“After today’s (Saturday’s) performance, I don’t see them beating Man City on Wednesday. I’d be quite shocked. They were so open at the back. Played 2v2 at the back.
“If Brentford had picked the right pass at times they’d have got in and won that game.
“Toney misses a real good chance where he hits the bar and Man City have a better quality of player to pick that right pass. Come Wednesday night I’d be quite shocked if Arsenal went and won that game.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
