Arsenal favourite Paul Merson admits his old club have little wiggle room in their Premier League title race with "relentless" defending champions Manchester City.
Despite failing to secure top-four last season, the Gunners continue to top the standings and found themselves seven points clear after 16 matches. However, they have now played a game more than second-placed City after their Tuesday night showdown with surprise package Newcastle.
Pep Guardiola and his star-studded squad can reduce the gap by defeating Chelsea on Thursday night. Either way, Merson - who won two top-flight medals with Arsenal in 1989 and 1991 - reckons no other team could put pressure on Mikel Arteta and his hopefuls like City.
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Speaking before the Newcastle game, Sky Sports pundit Merson said: " Only time will tell. I mean the team that are chasing them down at the moment - Manchester City - have reeled off 12 wins on the trot enough times and that's the problem, Manchester City are relentless.
"They're only a couple points behind what they were I think last season and they still ended up with 90-odd points, so if anybody is going to go and reel off 12 [wins in a row], it's them. Arsenal have just got to keep on winning, keep on winning. That's a lot of points and I don't care what anybody says."
Merson added: " It's hard. [Even if Arsenal went] 10 points clear, we're still sitting here thinking if they go on and win the league then wow, because it's Manchester City.
"I've seen it too many times, they reel of 12 wins on the trot, 13 wins, 14 wins on the trot. Not like win five, draw one, then win five, they reel them off and it doesn't matter who they play. That's my only worry."
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