Paul Merson believes Premier League leaders Manchester City have “no way” of winning the title if they keep playing as they are.
City continued their excellent start to the season under Enzo Maresca as a 5-3 win over Sunderland made it five wins out of five.
Maresca’s team lead reigning champions Arsenal – who were thumped 3-0 by Brighton on Saturday – by three points as we enter a three-week international break.
Read below for the Magic Man’s thoughts about why Arsenal are still in control of the Premier League this season…
‘Man City were all over the place at the back’
I sat there watching the game thinking, ‘if Manchester City put on a show and beat Sunderland convincingly, there could be a big momentum swing’.
Arsenal had been ripped to shred, fully deserved. I was thinking they’d win the league quite comfortably and not lose too many football matches. Have I got this wrong?
Then I saw City against Sunderland and go, ‘no’. There’s no way Manchester City win the league.
You can’t keep scoring loads of goals to win football matches. You can’t play that kind of football. Top teams will pick you off.
Sunderland are not the most high-scoring football team in the country but they scored three goals – and could have scored more.
Going forward, Manchester City were good but at the back they were all over the place. It just catches up with you, especially against the big boys.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester City and Sunderland
I remember what Enzo Maresca was like at Chelsea and he won’t like that result. He doesn’t like chaos. He’s not a chaos manager.
Yes, City did beat Manchester United at Old Trafford with 10 men. But that’s not hard is it? City were all over the place 11 versus 11, and United were by far the better team.
When it went to 10 vs 11, you get to sit back a little, there’s not that much pressure on you. If you go two banks of four and leave Erling Haaland up there, that’s hard to break down.
Did Arteta make big mistake in not playing Lewis-Skelly at Brighton?
I’d like to ask Mikel Arteta what his thinking was behind playing Bruno Guimaraes over Myles Lewis-Skelly at Brighton.
I don’t know if he thought it would be a nice football match, that Brighton would be tired after coming from 2-0 down against Manchester United on Wednesday?
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Brighton and Arsenal
It just didn’t work. Arsenal got outrun, they got overpowered in midfield, they got ripped to shreds.
Bruno’s a good footballer. If you’re playing a low block, I don’t see the problem in playing him. When you’re going to dominate the ball, there’s no-one like him when you have time. He’s a good player and passer – and he’s very intelligent.
I just wonder if Arteta was sitting on the coach on the way back thinking: ‘I’ve got that one wrong.’ When Bruno came on as a sub against Aston Villa a few weeks ago, he was outstanding. He could just keep the ball, pop it around, play one-twos and play the game at his tempo. That would have been a better idea.
Arsenal struggled from front to back at the Amex Stadium
I’m not blaming Bruno for Arsenal losing, absolutely not. I just didn’t know why Arteta had to change the team in a very difficult game.
But it doesn’t matter how good you are. You can be an international footballer and have all the accolades around you but if people get close to you and make you have to put your head down, it’s a completely and utterly different football match.
When you get all the time in the world, I could still play. But when you do what Brighton have done, they were absolutely brilliant. Credit where credit is due, they’re a very good team.