Tottenham Hotspur travel to Arsenal for the first North London derby of the season on Saturday.
The former Arsenal midfielder has named only three current Gunners in the team – defenders Laurent Koscielny and Saed Kolasinac, and striker Alexandre Lacazette to partner Harry Kane up front.
This graphic shows Merson’s full lineup, albeit with Kolasinac and Toby Alderweireld in the wrong positions!
Merson explained his decision to leave out Sanchez and Ozil, both of whom are out of contract at the Emirates Stadium at the end of the season, to Sky Sports, saying: “I was going to go with Alexis Sanchez in attack with Kane, but he has not done anything since he came back. He has not performed this season.
“And I’m a big fan of Mesut Ozil but he doesn’t turn up in the big games. You can’t just do it when you want to do it.”
“So this is a team based on who has done well over the whole of this season, and I can only get those three Arsenal players in it.”
Spurs supporters will argue that they could have had even more than eight representatives in the XI, with defenders Davinson Sanchez and Ben Davies pushing Kolasinac and Koscielny for form this campaign.
Back-to-back PFA Team of the Year member Danny Rose would be another contender for the left-back slot.
But Tottenham fans may concede that either Lacazette or an in-form Sanchez would be worthy of selection.
Tottenham’s domination of the team is a reflection of their progression under manager Mauricio Pochettino while Arsenal have stagnated. Spurs will go seven points clear of their rivals with victory at the Emirates Stadium.
What would your combined Arsenal and Spurs XI be?
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