Paul Merson is backing Arsenal to navigate past a tough Premier League trip to Brentford this week.
The Gunners briefly moved nine points clear on the summit of English football with a 3-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
Manchester City meanwhile went to Anfield – a ground where that they had won only once within the league of their previous 22 visits. Liverpool led heading into the ultimate 10 minutes of the match, in sight of a win that might have firmly extinguished City’s hopes of chasing down Arsenal.
But an exhilarating fightback ensured Pep Guardiola’s side lived to fight one other day.
The style of City’s win on Merseyside has fuelled City’s ambition and put pressure back on Arsenal. City could reduce the gap at the highest to a few points in the event that they beat Fulham on Wednesday night with the Gunners away to Brentford on Thursday.
The Bees are having fun with an excellent season under Keith Andrews, flying high in sixth place despite losing their manager and three of their most influential players last summer in Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard.
Former Arsenal star Merson believes Arteta faces an actual dilemma over who to start out up front in west London with Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus jostling for the role up top.
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And despite Brentford’s excellent form, he doesn’t see them breaching the Arsenal defence.
‘Swiftly, the pressure is now on Arsenal,’ Merson wrote for Sportskeeda.
‘Out of nowhere, it’s back on them again! That is an excellent tricky fixture. Brentford have lost only once at home this season and it was against Nottingham Forest. Arsenal will hope it’s that Brentford who turn up here.
Not way back, Arsenal went to Leeds and destroyed them in what was considered a tough game.
‘Mikel Arteta has an excellent squad at his disposal and I don’t doubt them. In the event that they play to their best, they are going to definitely win.
‘Arsenal don’t give away plenty of probabilities to their opponents like City. So for Brentford to win, they have to play out of their skins and likewise hope Arsenal have a terrible game.
‘I expect Fulham to attain against City but I don’t expect Brentford to attain here, that’s the difference with Arsenal.’
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