Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening, missing a huge chance to close the gap between them and Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The Gunners remain eight points behind the Reds after 26 games and will be very desperate to return to winning ways when they visit City Ground on Wednesday to take on Nottingham Forest.
Failure to secure all three points against the Hammers is a huge blow for Arsenal, and Paul Merson believes their title race is over even if Liverpool lose to Manchester City on Sunday.
“1 million per cent, 1 million per cent,” the Sky Sports pundit said when asked if he thinks the Gunners’ title race is over.
“There is no way Arsenal can catch Liverpool.
“They have got no forward, they have got a young 17-year-old who is going to have a bright future. Amazing player… but there is absolutely no chance. Even if Liverpool got beat 7-0 tomorrow, they still can’t win the league.”
The Reds visit Etihad Stadium tomorrow to take on Man City, and a win will put more pressure on Arsenal ahead of the midweek fixtures.
Being without plenty of options in attack following several key injuries is hurting the Gunners, and the likes of Raheem Sterling and Leandro Trossard have to make the most of this opportunity and step up right now.
Mikel Merino struggled leading the line today and manager Mikel Arteta will need to come up with a plan B going forward if the North Londoners want to remain in the title race until the end of the campaign.
It is too early to rule Arsenal entirely out of the race despite the result against West Ham, but they have missed a huge chance to get themselves back into a favourable position and could rue their failure to capitalise on the points Liverpool recently dropped.
