Arsenal have it all to do in their Champions League semi-final second leg away at Paris Saint-Germain next week.
The Gunners were caught out early on in their first-leg meeting at the Emirates Stadium as Ousmane Dembele scored after four minutes.
Arsenal will now need to go to the Parc des Princes and try to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Luis Enrique’s well-drilled team.
Paul Merson has claimed he would have utilised two Arsenal players differently in the first leg, but he also made an optimistic prediction for the second leg.
Paul Merson would have used Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield and Mikel Merino up front for Arsenal against PSG
Before Arsenal head to PSG next week, they’re in Premier League action against Bournemouth on Saturday evening.
Merson predicted how the Gunners would fare against the Cherries – a 2-1 home win – but most of the attention from those connected with Arsenal is on the PSG game.
Merson acknowledged that Arsenal’s midfield was overrun and said he would have played Mikel Merino up front, while Myles Lewis-Skelly should have been in midfield.
“I wasn’t shocked by the fact that PSG dominated Arsenal in midfield,” Merson wrote on Sportskeeda. “The Gunners got overrun because Thomas Partey wasn’t playing.
“I would have played Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield and asked Mikel Merino to play up front. Arsenal made too many changes for a game like that in my opinion.”
However, Merson was more optimistic about the second leg, with Thomas Partey set to return after serving a suspension.
“When Partey comes back in the second leg, that midfield will be a lot stronger for sure,” said Merson.
Alan Shearer also backed Partey to make a big difference for Arsenal at PSG next week, while Arsenal fans felt Lewis-Skelly should’ve played in midfield.
Paul Merson’s huge Mikel Merino U-turn
It’s safe to say Merson was initially not thrilled with the idea of playing Merino up front when Arteta first started using him as a striker.
“It’s a hard position to play, centre forward, there aren’t a lot of them around,” he said back in February.
“To just throw people up there and expect them to do the magic, for me, is mind-blowing.
“He looked like a fish up a tree. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to him, he’s a holding midfield player.
“You just can’t do that. I worry for Arsenal now.”
Now, Merson has claimed that the £32million man should have played up front instead of his usual midfield position.
It just goes to show what a quality manager Mikel Arteta is, to come up with such an idea and then prove so many people wrong with it.
