Exclusive Paul Merson: Arsenal won't win the Champions League. Odegaard? A shadow of former self and Lewis-Skelly WILL make it despite arrogance

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone and picture from Wikimedia Commons

Capital Football had an exclusive chat with Arsenal legend and two-time English champion Paul Merson.

Paul, first of all who needs to step up now in the absence of Havertz in this injury-ravaged side? Is there someone you expect more from? Merino has been deployed as false 9 with mixed results...

“I don’t think Odegaard has hit the heights of what he did last year, nowhere near! I think if he can step it up and if he starts playing well and as well as he can play then I think whoever plays as a front three will have more of a chance. It's gonna be a makeshift front-three now. Nwaneri, Sterling and Trossard will probably be the front three.”

Let’s delve into Sterling. If he left today he would go down an Arsenal flop. What’s happened to him?

“He hasn’t had the run of games. It’s hard if you’re coming on and you’re starting a game and you know if you don’t do well in 60 minutes you’re gonna be brought off. Raheem needs a run of games, he’s definitely not played three games on the trot for Arsenal! This gives him an opportunity for six of seven games on the trot.”

We always say that once we lose something we find out about their true value. Have Arsenal fans started missing Havertz after recent goalless displays?

“I’ve always thought he was massive for the team, he’s scored 15 goals this season! His misses? Everybody misses…if everybody put their chances away some others get 70 goals a season. It just doesn’t work like that. For me you’ve got to get in the position to score the goals.I’ve seen players playing games and they never looked like scoring in a month of Sundays! And they make sure they’re not gonna miss because they’re not getting in the position to score. For me, I’m a big fan of Havertz and he’ll be missed because he can play in midfield.”

The decision not to sign a centre-forward in January has definitely backfired with Arsenal's season imploding. Why did they not sign anyone in your opinion?

“They put in a bid for Watkins but I think the bid for Watkins was one of them where obviously they must have heard that they got a £60million bid for Duran from Saudi Arabia. So they probably thought ‘you know what, let’s put 65 on the table or 60 for Watkins and surely they take the 60 for the 29-year old and not the 21-year old’. But Aston Villa took it for the 21-year old. This speaks volumes for how good Watkins is. Because really in hindsight you sell the 29-year old for the same price. But they didn’t do that. Then after that you don’t wanna go out and buy anybody with the Fair Play Rules now. It’s hard to just go and spend money like they did before, you’ve got to be accountable for the players you buy now.”

Is this Liverpool side a great Premier League team? Is it as good as the great Man United and Man City sides?

“I think they’re a very good team but you don’t have to be a great team. You don’t have to be better than someone like Man United 25 years ago or as good as Man City were last year. You just have to be good enough this year. Liverpool are a decent team. They've lost one game all season. You know they’re a very good team, they don’t have to be a great team you’ve just got to win the league.”

The reason Arsenal dispensed with Wenger was because he couldn’t deliver them any trophies anymore…. While Arteta may now go a fifth season without trophies. Why so much credit in the bank?

“At the end of Wenger’s reign … they never looked like winning the Premier League! Now all of a sudden they’ve come second and took one of the greatest teams of all time in Man City to the last game of the season. I mean I don’t know what Arsenal want? I mean, they are in it, they are consistent. It’s not as easy as everybody says winning the league and they’ve come against Man City.  The disappointing thing is that Man City haven’t had the season they’ve had and Arsenal haven’t capitalised on it. But Liverpool are still a good football team. You gotta remember last season with five or six games to go Liverpool were in the driving seat. They lost at home to Crystal Palace and that was it then.  But before that if they had won their last five games of the season they’d have won the league. “

But why aren’t Arsenal quite the same proposition when City have an off-season?

“I don’t agree with that. Arsenal have had injuries and this is a hard, hard league. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. Teams turn up and you’ve gotta be on it every week for 38 games a season. They haven’t done what Man City have done but they are in the title race. It’s a lot harder than what people think winning the Premier League. And I just think at the moment they’re consistent but at the moment they just can’t get over the line. But...."

But?

"Liverpool haven’t had any injuries yet. Van Dijk has played every minute this season, Salah has virtually played every game, Gravenberch  and Mac Allister played virtually every game which is the spine of their team. And you know these are big footballers. And you look at Arsenal…Saka is their main player with Odegaard and he’s out for two-three months. If Salah or Van Dijk get injured before the end of the season Liverpool are gonna struggle, there’s absolutely no doubt about that.”

The gap's increased to 13 points in the Prem. Do Arsenal have better chance of winning the Champions League?

“Who Arsenal? No chance. They got beaten by Newcastle in the Carabao Cup over two legs four to nil ! And there are better teams than Newcastle in the Champions League  Arsenal have got no chance of winning the Champions League. Arsenal didn’t take it seriously? I’d like to think you go all the way to the semi-final over a two-legged game you wanna get to Wembley.”

Barring Aubameyang Arsenal fans have regulqrly been crying out for a great centre-forward since the days of Olivier Giroud. Why can't the club just sign a proper finisher?

“I mean there aren’t many around is it. I think it’s a dying breed in my opinion centre-forwards. You look at Isak, I liked him from the start anyway but I don’t know if everybody thought he was gonna be as good. Haaland the money and everything was huge. There’s not a lot of centre-forwards around. The other one is Harry Kane but he’s not gonna go and play for Arsenal… he won’t lose that legacy at Tottenham do you know what I mean. Isak if he leaves Newcastle really can only go and play for Arsenal. Real Madrid are not gonna have him, Barcelona have no money, Man City is not having him, Man United don’t seem that they have the money anymore. And the only team that could really buy him is Arsenal. The only one is Watkins who will be 29 this year so they are buying him literally like for this minute to win the league. You’re gonna pay some £60-70 million and never gonna get your money back on him. But you’re buying him to try and win the Premier League. You get two, three seasons. No one in their wildest dreams would have thought this could happen…to pull your hamstring on a warm weather training in Dubai…it’s mind-blowing.”

Could Lewis-Skelly's arrogance backfire if things don't go to plan in his career? THAT Haaland celebration, red card... well it'a fair to say he's not just making headlines for his rise in the game

“His career will go to plan don’t worry he’s a good player. He will be all right, don’t worry about that. I didn’t like what Haaland done to him so it swings around. The poor kid is trying to make it in the game and he’s going ‘who the f are you?’. People forget about what happened to him. I wouldn’t want that at 18 years of age from one of the top players in the world coming up to me and saying ‘who the f are you’. I don’t see the problem.”