Arsenal hero Paul Merson has predicted his old side to draw against Aston Villa in their highly-anticipated Premier League clash on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners saw a run of five successive league wins end on Wednesday evening as Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool secured a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium. However, Mikel Arteta's side need to quickly dust themselves off and get back to winning ways as they look to end their five year UEFA Champions League hiatus, with the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur breathing down their neck in the race for fourth.
Writing for Sportskeeda, Merson forecast a thrilling draw for the north Londoners at Villa Park, saying: "Arsenal played very well in the first half against Liverpool and could've probably won the game if Martin Odegaard had managed to score past Alisson Becker. That said, this is a tough game for Arsenal, as Aston Villa are also in good form heading into the game.
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"If you had looked at this game two weeks ago, it would've been easy to predict an Arsenal win. However, a lot has happened in the past two weeks, so this game might not prove to be as straightforward for Mikel Arteta and co.
"I think there will be a lot of goals in this and if Arsenal manage to not get beat, it will still be a good result for them in terms of their top-four hopes. A draw wouldn't be the worst result in the world, so I think these two sides will cancel each other out in an entertaining game."
Merson's Prediction: Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal
Liverpool icon Mark Lawrenson also weighed in, backing Steven Gerrard's men to clinch a surprise victory against the Gunners. Writing for the BBC, Lawrenson said: "Arsenal played well against Liverpool on Wednesday and the game really swung on Alisson's save from Martin Odegaard after Thiago's poor back-pass.
"I thought Gabriel Martinelli, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey all played well for the Gunners, despite their defeat. This is a completely different test, though.
"It will be interesting to see how Mikel Arteta's side respond now their five-game winning run is over, and I think this game will tell us more about them than their display against Liverpool did. Arsenal have got some very talented young players, and they also have got some games in hand on the teams below them in the table as they look to hang on to fourth spot, but this is a new territory for most of them and we don't know how they will react.
"Aston Villa had their own good run ended at the weekend, in a defeat by West Ham, but I've been impressed by them in recent weeks. I know Arsenal are higher up the table but I wouldn't say there is much between the two teams at the moment."
Lawrenson's prediction: 2-1
