Arsenal legend Paul Merson is, unsurprisingly, stating that Tottenham will not stay top of the Premier League table but could still end up having an ‘unbelievable’ season.
Ange Postecoglou’s men lead the way on goals scored from Merson’s beloved Gunners after eight games of the season and are yet to lose a game in an impressive start under the Australian.
But with less than a quarter of the campaign gone, Merson does not view Spurs as title contenders although he believes finishing in the top four would be some achievement for Postecoglou in his first season in charge.
That’s a far cry from how Merson was speaking ahead of the north London derby at The Emirates back in September, a game which finished 2-2.
Prior to the contest he claimed, the Sky Sports pundit said: “I’m bullish, very bullish. I can’t see anything but an Arsenal win. I think they will absolutely slaughter them, I do. Absolutely rip them to shreds.
“All over the pitch they [Arsenal] are better players. Not many Spurs players get into this team, and if you open this game up tomorrow then Arsenal will destroy Tottenham. And I mean destroy them.”
To give him his due, Merson has praised the style of football Tottenham have been playing under Postecoglou was impressed the resilience they showed in the 1-0 win at Luton that saw then go top of the table.
He told Sky Sports: “It was a funny game! I was sitting there in the first 15 minutes thinking, ‘if Harry Kane was playing now, the game would have been over’, given the number of chances they missed.
“Then Spurs did not look like scoring after that, bar the goal. But fair play to them, going down to 10 men and digging in and getting a result, you have to hold your hands up.
“I know Luton are right down at the bottom, but it is still hard. Spurs gave away a few chances, but in the end I thought they dug in and showed a new side to Tottenham.”
Merson not expecting Spurs to stay top for long
As for where Tottenham will finish in the table, Merson is sure of one thing – it will not be top.
He added: “Fair play to them, they are top of the league at the moment – will they stay there? No, but that is not the point. If they were to get in the Champions League next season, then that would be an unbelievable season for Tottenham.”
As for who he thinks will win the league, Merson can still not look beyond Manchester City – despite their loss to the Gunners on Sunday.
He added: “A couple of weeks ago you were thinking, ‘if Man City win at Arsenal, they are going to go seven points clear of them and that is the end of it for Arsenal’”.
“Now all of a sudden they have beaten them and that will give them so much confidence – if they had beaten them just once last year, they would have gone on to win the league. So that is how big it is.”
Back to Spurs, and by the time they host Fulham on October 23 there is a strong chance they will have been knocked off top spot. But just hitting those heights and playing the football they are now playing will be of huge delight to the fans who have endured under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte over the past few seasons.
