Paul Merson says: I’m still not convinced by Tottenham… they still have Spursy performance | Football news

In his latest column, Paul Merson reflects on why Arsenal can still bring Tottenham down to fourth, the problems at Manchester United and delivers his verdict on the Premier League title race. ..

I didn’t buy Spurs being nailed in fourth place

I still feel Arsenal have a chance. Arsenal have to take on Chelsea and Tottenham still have to face Liverpool, that will be another game. With Chelsea beating Southampton last weekend, that cemented their place in the top four.

What I mean is Arsenal players are at their ceiling. They’re playing as well as they can and don’t have too much left in the closet. They had a day against Brighton where they dropped that form and were beaten.

If you take out a few very influential players on that team and things don’t go great. The squad isn’t big and Mikel Arteta mostly picks the same players all the time and against Brighton they ran into a team that had nothing to play with and who were capable of free rotations.

I feel it would be a dodgy game. Brighton didn’t play well but you feel it’s going to be a beautiful game of football. Arsenal couldn’t concentrate their entire squad and things got tough. Kieran Tierney is a big player and Thomas Partey is becoming more and more influential.

I still feel Arsenal are in it because Tottenham still have a Tottenham in them. I don’t mean too bad, but they still have a Tottenham. People would go crazy for them but they could have been blown away in the first half against Aston Villa.

The mansion was supposed to be out of sight and they only had to stay on one of those days for the next seven weeks. The 4-0 win over Villa covered the cracks. They did some great things, don’t get me wrong, but in the first half, Hugo Lloris had to save after a save. So I’m still not convinced by Tottenham.

Top 4 is still a lot for Arsenal.

Should Arsenal keep Aubameyang?

We were all smart after the event so there was absolutely no point in looking back. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 10 goals in 14 appearances for Barcelona but La Liga is not a great league. Football was open and free in Spain and he was a bad influence at the time at Arsenal.

What Piers Morgan said is typical from someone not involved in a football club.

Arteta had to make the call whereby keeping him there and he was having a negative impact on other players, no one mentioned whether Aubameyang should have been there three or four weeks ago. . Suddenly, we heard that Aubameyang shouldn’t have been sold.

You have to look at the future of the club and towards younger players. All respect Aubameyang and he was a bad influence at the time. The manager made the right call.

Arsenal will not be able to bring another player into that club while Aubameyang is there on a salary of £350,000 a week. Everyone wants those salaries. I didn’t hear from Piers Morgan three weeks ago when they played as the Harlem Globetrotters.

The reason Arsenal have been in a slump lately is because they’ve had a few players out and having bad days. They lost to Crystal Palace but I see Chelsea and Man City recently went there and struggled. Chelsea were very lucky to win there.

It’s easy to say things in hindsight but you have to think about the future of the club. There are a lot of young children out there and you will be surprised how they follow an older player.

Ten Hag worked in a two-team tournament

I called the results on Saturday against Everton. I told everyone that Manchester United would lose that game. It’s not like Everton lost. There is talk of a new manager coming but those United players are not running around looking for a new manager.

It has been a disturbance since the day Ralf Rangnick entered the club. I’m not saying it’s his fault, but United need their permanent manager immediately after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking. This is Manchester United. It is stop start.

If it’s Erik ten Hag getting the job, he’s someone who’s managed a two-team league for years. He’s never worked in this league before and he’s never really worked with big football players. He’s been in places where he pushes players towards big moves.

He worked with football hungry players while the United players were on top. When you look at the Eredivisie, Dusan Tadic is the best player there is. I’m not saying he’s not a good player, but where would he be in the top 50 in the Premier League?

I didn’t see anyone else falling down to keep him while he was at Southampton, just to look at the perspective of two leagues. Ten Hag may be a good coach, but he has worked with players who were convinced that if they worked hard, they would take the big step to the Premier League.

These Manchester United players are at the biggest club in the world but judging by the way they’ve performed, you’d think they’re pulling their teeth. You have fans who come to watch every away game, and you have players who just shrug and want to end the season.

They are still on the list of finishing in the top four but they have been absolutely brutal. For me, this is what United deserve after bringing in an interim coach. Rangnick came with fame but he worked with lower players.

He has worked in the Bundesliga, where the mentality is also to challenge the players to take a bigger step. Same with Ten Hag. He will come and work with the players who are already there, the 22-year-olds will receive a salary of £150,000 a week. How do you get them going?

They knew they were a million miles away from Liverpool and Man City. I won’t take that job for another million years. Why you? For what? Not a single United player has made it to City and most will struggle to get on the bench.

United need Rashford more than Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is now 37 years old. What is happening at United will put him over the wall. He is one of the greatest players of all time but now he cannot do what he used to do. This tournament is non-stop, it’s too hard. I’m not going to say, ‘I told you so’, but I can see this happening.

He got Solskjaer, simple as that. They beat the record for the longest away streak without being beaten and they played a certain way. Rangnick brought out Marcus Rashford at Everton when he was United’s player of the year because he didn’t want a repeat of what happened earlier in the season at Brentford.

I was in that game and it was a shame. He doesn’t need to justify his decision because he’s the manager. At Ronaldo’s age, you can’t play every game. United need Rashford more than they need Ronaldo going forward.

Another week, they had Edinson Cavani alongside Ronaldo. It needs to stop sooner rather than later, or else this club will disappear from being the biggest in the world. They won’t last much longer at this rate.

I would be shocked if Man City didn’t win the title

It’s not over yet as you know it but I would be shocked if City didn’t win the Premier League from this position. It will be a big shock because I think they are too good. Both them and Liverpool are great teams and I see nothing but Man City reeling from the wins they need. I don’t see them dropping a single point.

Without a doubt, Liverpool still have tougher games. It will be a different match if Man City have a match against Liverpool. Manchester United at Anfield is not the hardest game in the world but surely they will try for it?

They still have to take on Tottenham at home, who are fighting for the Champions League while you look at Manchester City and their next two games are gimmes – Brighton and Watford at home. I see nothing but Man City winning the league.

It was in Liverpool hands on Sunday but it was out of their hands. As soon as it got out of their hands, it was another game. Jurgen Klopp didn’t win the FA Cup which is weird so it’s happening this weekend and to be honest they’ve done very little wrong.

They’ve been brilliant but they’ve just hit an unbelievable team at the same time. Without this City team, Liverpool would have won everything in sight. Sports are about timing.

There’s been talk about whether or not this is a great competitor, but you don’t have to beat everyone to be a great competitor. We’ve seen that in the way Kevin De Bruyne reacts when attacked by Virgil van Dijk.

Sometimes in the past, when you saw players staring at each other, what were they doing? It’s just a front. You don’t have to stand there and stare at everyone to have competition.