Paul Merson has predicted that West Ham United will share the spoils with Arsenal when they visit the London Stadium on Saturday.
The Hammers come off the back of a 2-0 win over Birmingham City in the third round of the FA Cup while the Gunners are no doubt feeling confident after beating Blackpool 3-0 in the same competition, so it is no surprise that Merson has predicted a 2-2 scoreline between the two clubs.
The Sky Sports pundit has questioned how Unai Emery’s side will be able to deal with the attacking threat that stems from the likes of Andy Carroll, Marko Arnautovic and Felipe Anderson.
“Arsenal struggle to stop goals going in and West Ham’s best form of defence is attack,” he said in his Sky Sports predictions.
“I don’t know how Arsenal will cope with the likes of Carroll, Arnautovic and Anderson, but the Gunners are good going forward so it makes for an entertaining game.”
OPINION
Merson is right – both sides have a lot of attacking talent, so this clash will no doubt make for good entertainment, just as he has pointed out. However, he is right in saying that Arsenal will struggle coping with the talent that the Hammers have on offer. Anderson is in the best form he has been in this season and he has undergone a resurgence since the last time the two sides met, so he will be quite the handful for the Gunners’ defence. A 2-2 draw seems like a fair scoreline, but if one thing is going to let Arsenal down, it is their defence. Teams have shown time and time again this season that it is easy to exploit this weakness, and there is no doubt that West Ham will do exactly the same. Carroll may not be the biggest threat in terms of attacking flair, but he is certainly a menace when it comes to set-pieces due to his height.
