“When you look at Arsenal, they would have faced all of Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle after this weekend. Imagine spending big and not beating any of these three teams that finished in the top five last season? Where is the progress then?
“Arsenal have a good run of fixtures coming up after this game. But if you don’t beat Newcastle, you are basically entering that run with an eight-point lead to chase down.
“If you’re a team in the title race, you don’t want to be playing catch up when the easy fixtures come along, you want to use them to get away from other contenders and kick on instead!
“Arsenal must not sit back in this game, if they do that, Newcastle will score. I’d play Saka, Eze and Viktor Gyokeres as the front-three here but I don’t think Arteta will do that if I’m being honest. I have a feeling Gabriel Martinelli will start instead of Eze. He’s a disciplined player and can be useful with his pace. But Eze is the X-factor, he can unlock defences like he showed it against City.
“We saw how Newcastle gave Liverpool a strong fight with just 10 men at St James’ Park earlier this season. Liverpool were very fortunate to come away with a win in that game. If you’re Arsenal, you want to match what Liverpool did here, but I don’t think they can do it."
Merson's prediction: Newcastle 1-1 Arsenal
Both teams have been defensively sound so far this season, but Newcastle are struggling to score goals against Premier League opposition.
However, while we've blanked each time on the road, we've scored seven goals across three home games against Liverpool, Wolves and Bradford, showing we are often a different beast at St James' Park.
Although Merson may have love for his former club, a draw would be a rare result for the Gunners after three straight defeats on Tyneside without scoring a goal!
