The former Arsenal midfielder is backing victories for his old side and Liverpool, who face Manchester United on Monday.
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson believes the Premier League’s top four sides will increase their gap over the chasing pack this weekend.
The former Arsenal midfielder has already tipped victories for both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur and expects his old club and Liverpool to follow suit.
Arsenal host Swansea City on Saturday afternoon, with Merson predicting a 3-0 win – having been impressed with Arsene Wenger’s third-place side.
“What has impressed me with Arsenal is they weren’t great against Southampton and Burnley, but they won both matches. In previous years they would have probably dropped points,” he wrote in his weekly predictions column for Sky Sports.
“It’s always dangerous coming off an international break and star players like Alexis Sanchez will have done a lot of travelling, but the way Arsenal are playing at the moment means Swansea will do well to get near them.”
The game of the weekend is arguably Manchester United’s trip to Liverpool on Monday. But not if you’re a fan of the former, Merson suspects.
Sixth-place United must beat Liverpool by two clear goals to leapfrog them into the Champions League spots, while also relying on Everton’s failure to beat Manchester City.
Instead, Merson is backing Liverpool to turn the tables with a 3-1 win.
“I don’t think Man Utd will be able to live with Liverpool’s attacking players and if the hosts start quickly they will have too much at Anfield,” he added.
“I’m not sure Jose Mourinho knows his best team yet and he needs to get that sorted. They played well for 20 minutes against Stoke, but for a large part of that game they didn’t look like scoring.
“Considering the way Liverpool press high, I think Man Utd will struggle to open the game up.”
If Merson’s predictions come in, the top four will remain exactly how it is, only with a five-point gap between Liverpool and Everton, who could be overtaken by Chelsea and/or Crystal Palace.
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