Paul Merson thinks it was the “same old story” for Arsenal as they played well in a 3-1 loss to Manchester United on Sunday.
The Gunners were perhaps the better team yesterday but Man Utd showed their clinical edge as Marcus Rashford twice hit Mikel Arteta’s side on the break as United grabbed all three points.
Bukayo Saka had given Arsenal a deserved equaliser on 60 minutes but the Gunners failed to make their chances count throughout the game as Man Utd made it four Premier League wins in a row.
Arsenal are mentally weak and naive – they lost the plot as always at Old Trafford
Rio Ferdinand praised Christian Eriksen for his creative performance against Arsenal and Merson also hailed the Denmark international for being “the difference” between the two sides.
Merson said on Sky Sports: “The first 15 minutes of the second half they [United] got ripped to shreds. Arsenal should have gone on and won it. It was so one-sided, the football match.
“He was the difference, Eriksen. I thought he got run ragged by [Martin] Odegaard at times, I thought Odegaard was getting him, turning him and squaring him up, he was running the show.
“But the thing with Eriksen that Arsenal haven’t got is that ball through the lines.
“He did it in the first half with Fernandes for the first goal, and it did it for Fernandes again [for United’s second goal].
“Arsenal haven’t got that. They’ve got [Bukayo] Saka and [Sambi] Lokonga, they’re not going to put the ball through the lines, that was the difference, for me, between the two sides, that was it, it was his [Eriksen’s] passing.
“It’s the same old story, you come away from here and we’re like, ‘we’ve done well’.”
Fellow pundit Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is “not convinced” that new Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus will be able to provide the Gunners with 20 goals this season, despite his promising start to the campaign.
“He’s come in [and scored] three goals, made chances, made others around him play better,” Hasselbaink said. I’m still not convinced he will be 20 goals a season because if he was that then why did he not do that at Man City in a better team?
“I think he had enough opportunities [at Man City]. He is not somebody that scores goals out and out and out. He’s somebody that loves scoring goals and likes to link up, he’s been brilliant at it, very strong, holding the ball up.
“He’s got three goals in five matches – which is brilliant – but you expect…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…