Mikel Arteta asks, “Where are you progress?” According to Paul Merson, he believes the Gunners boss will snub his “X Factor” star following the Arsenal clash with Newcastle this weekend.
Arteta was heavily criticised for putting on a “handbrake” on Manchester City in a 1-1 draw last weekend, and the retort was later exposed by Jamie Carrager as nonsense that the Spaniard would become increasingly transisans at press conferences.
Eberechi Eze came in as an alternative to setting up Gabriel Martinelli for the later equalizer of that game, opening an Arsenal account with opener against Portvale at the League Cup on Wednesday.
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However, Merson believes the £60 million signature will return to the bench again for a trip to Newcastle, with the gunners expecting more points to fall in the title race.
“We’ll perform together in front of Bukayosaka, Eze and Victor’s Gyoker, and honestly, I don’t think Arteta will do that,” Mason told Sportkida.
“I feel Gabriel Martinelli will start off for Eze, he is a disciplined player and can help with pace.
“But Eze is the X-factor. He can unleash his defense like he showed it against Manchester City.
“Newcastle always plays Arsenal. St. James Park fans are always good, but this fixture has a little more electricity.
“This is a difficult game for them as Arsenal lost the last three games.
“If Liverpool is tied up in a draw at Crystal Palace, Arsenal doesn’t mind leaving with points here.
“However, if a league leader scores three more points, the game will automatically fall into a must-see category.
“If you look at Arsenal, they’d have been facing Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle from this weekend onwards.
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“Imagine you haven’t beaten any of these three teams that finished in the top five last season. Where is it then?
“Arsenal will have equipment after this game, but if you don’t beat Newcastle, you’ll basically chase it with an eight-point lead and enter that run.
“If you’re a team in the title race, you don’t want to catch up when a simple fixture comes in, so I’d like to run away from other candidates and use them to kick instead.
“Arsenal should not sit in this game, and if they do, Newcastle will score. We saw how Newcastle gave Liverpool a strong fight with just 10 men at St James Park earlier this season.
“Liverpool has been very fortunate to win that game. If you’re Arsenal, you want to match what Liverpool did here, but I don’t think they can do that. Newcastle United 1-1 Arsenal.”
