Former Arsenal player Paul Merson has provided his predictions on the upcoming domestic football, once again.
The Gunners face Southampton at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening, having lost to them 4-0 in the reverse fixture earlier on in the campaign.
Despite the embarrassment, the north London side have racked up enough points throughout the campaign to keep their title charge strong, just three points behind league leaders Leicester City and the departing Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City.
The pundit, speaking in his weekly prediction column for Sky Sports News, reckons it’ll be an uncomfortable victory for the home side, who will win by three goals to one.
This is a difficult game for Arsenal. Southampton have really turned a corner. They had a bit of a dodgy patch but they’ve got a run going. They’re not letting in too many goals and are very hard to beat making this one a potential banana skin for Arsenal.
Having Alexis Sanchez back is a real boost for the Gunners and I also think the fact Per Mertesacker is suspended is a bonus too, because we all saw what Shane Long did to him in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day. That’s the way Southampton would have tried to play again, hitting long balls over the top of Mertesacker for Long to chase.
Still, it’s a difficult game for the Gunners but one they will win because of the return of Sanchez. He will score the first goal for me in what will be a 3-1 home win.
Arsenal have the luxury of a number of players coming back from injury, with Francis Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez likely to start on Tuesday evening, while Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla are all on the comeback trail.
There was bad news for Tomas Rosicky, however, with the Czech international facing a setback after making his return to action at the weekend.
