Manchester City cannot call themselves the greatest Premier League team in history until their 115 charges are dealt with, according to Paul Merson.
The former Arsenal midfielder has praised Pep Guardiola’s “phenomenal” side as they close in on a fourth consecutive title - a feat never before achieved in the league.
But the ongoing case revolving around City’s financial conduct between 2008 and 2019 has led to questions from fans, ahead of a resolution “in the near future” as promised by Premier League CEO Richard Masters.
The defending champions have always strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Merson, though, is willing to wait for the outcome to decide where City rank in the list of all-time great English teams, despite their likely record achievement this weekend.
“I’ve always wondered if this Manchester City side are the greatest in Premier League history”, he wrote for Sportskeeda.
“You have to see what the charges bring before delivering a verdict on this, but they are quite simply a phenomenal team.
“They’ve done it year after year and make the other teams look ridiculously average - it’s unbelievable.”
City host West Ham on Sunday with a two-point lead over Arsenal, who play Everton.
Merson, 56, is resigned to the Gunners being denied a first title in two decades.
“This is a nice game for [City] to play on the last day of the season but they have to score early to ease the nerves,” he continued.
“Against Tottenham, their nerves were jangling and they only started playing free-flowing football after Erling Haaland’s second goal.
“A lot of things can happen on the last day of the season and scoring first should be the name of the game for both Man City and Arsenal.”
On the Gunners, he wrote: “Arsenal have done absolutely nothing wrong this season and have recovered really well after throwing the title away last season, but the sad reality is that they look likely to finish second again.
“They are a fantastic team with a very good young manager and my only worry will be if they can recover mentally after two draining title charges.
“Everton will turn up and Sean Dyche will want his players to have a go, but I can’t see anything but an Arsenal win.”
