Paul Merson has praised Mikel Arteta’s impact at Arsenal and says the Gunners manager will already know which players he wants to sell in the summer.
Arsenal have largely impressed under new manager Arteta, who left his role as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City to return to the Emirates in December.
The Gunners have improved defensively and are yet to suffer a defeat in 2020, winning six and drawing four of their ten matches so far this year.
Merson has been impressed by Arteta’s Arsenal but still expects the Spaniard to oversee major changes at the end of the season.
‘Arsenal would have lost the game against Everton four months ago,’ the Gunners hero told Sky Sports. ‘You watch Arsenal now and it’s not the Arsenal of 2004.
‘This is where Arsenal are now, so really beating Everton 3-2 is a big result. They’re aiming for fourth or fifth now, so that is a good result.
‘They are harder to beat, and Arteta is getting players to try and play, like [Mesut] Ozil, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang is scoring goals. They’re still open at times, but if you’re giving Arteta a grade since he got there, it would be B+.
‘He’s doing something right. Show me someone that can run before they can walk! It’s moving along steadily, and that’s the best thing for him.
‘If he’d come in and won five games on the trot, people would have thought he is the messiah, and then all of a sudden they’d have hit a bad run, and he’d be described as a one-hit-wonder.
‘He’s done it the right way, and it has moved along steadily. They’re in with a big chance of the top five, which if City are banned, means Champions League football.
‘Arteta will know what he needs to change next season. It’s pointless coming in, going mad at players now, and then all of a sudden needing those players if others get injured.
‘The players he’ll want to get rid of don’t need to know that right now. There will be some personnel changes in the summer.’
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