Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
‘Brilliant’, ‘absolutely phenomenal’: Paul Merson blown away by Arsenal duo
Arsenal legend and Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has waxed lyrical about Mikel Arteta for his “absolutely phenomenal” work so far, as well as David Luiz, who is capable of being “brilliant”.
It’s not exactly been plain sailing for Arsenal since the restart, with the odd bad performance and result, but lately the Gunners have been in superb form.
Arsenal put the North London derby loss firmly behind them with victory over Liverpool in the Premier League and followed it up with a 2-0 win over Manchester City to reach the FA Cup final.
The Gunners were humbled by Man City in the league last month, with Luiz putting in a dismal performance -which included a red card – after coming off the bench.
Since then, he has shone in a three-man defence and, against Pep Guardiola’s side at the weekend, he was impressive both defensively and offensively.
“Arsenal have a plan, they go and press when they have to, drop off when they don’t, they play with high energy and counter attack as a team,” Merson told .
“They were outstanding against Man City. That was David Luiz – there’s no grey area – he’s either 9/10 or 4/10. But when he plays like that, he’s brilliant.
“Arteta has done an absolutely phenomenal job. It’s the first time I’ve watched Arsenal in many, many years, and they have a plan.
“Man City were up for it in the second half, and Arsenal put themselves on the line. I honestly think he’s done a brilliant job. I can’t talk highly enough of him.”
TBR View:
Since the restart, Arsenal fans have experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows, but finally it looks as though things have clicked and they’re now looking like a proper top-four team.
As shown by his freezing out of Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil, as well as his eagerness to get Luiz signed up again, Arteta has a clear plan of how to move the team forward and he’s not afraid to ruffle feathers or cause initial controversy to get things done.