Former Arsenal star Paul Merson has hit out at “atricious” Thomas Partey after his torrid display in the team’s 2-2 draw against Aston Villa – and said he would be “shocked” if Liverpool don’t win the title now.
The Gunners suffered another blow to their title hopes after squandering a 2-0 lead against Unai Emery’s men, with Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz strikes cancelled out by Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.
Arsenal thought they had won it late on when Mikel Merino’s strike found its way into the net before VAR ruled his effort had gone in off the arm of Havertz.
Merson was far from happy with what he saw from his former team and pointed the finger of blame at Partey, who was playing out of position at right-back but was well off the pace with poor marking and a lack of intensity.
He was particularly at fault for Villa’s equaliser as he completely lost Watkins, who had the freedom and space to break clear from the Ghanian and rifle into the net off the bar.
“They’re 2-0 and the defending for the goals wasn’t good enough,” he told Sky Sports. “You’ve got to be solid. It was too lackadaisical. If you want to win Premier Leagues you’ve got to be on it.
“Every weekend you’ve got to turn up and make it hard. If we look at Partey on the second goal, it’s atrocious. Partey [second goal] when we watch it again. I can’t believe it.”
“To win any league is hard. Anybody wins cups. The draw wins you the FA Cup or the Carabao Cup. But the league you’ve got to put yourself there.”
After Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Brentford – which Arne Slot’s men secured with two stoppage time goals from Darwin Nunez – the Reds are now six points clear of the Gunners with a game in hand.
Merson was downbeat on Arsenal’s title hopes after the disappointing result and said he would be “shocked” if Liverpool failed to capture the Premier League crown.
“Liverpool scoring two goals in injury time, Arsenal 2-0 up, back to two all,” he added. “[It’s] a massive swing. I’ll be shocked now if Liverpool didn’t go on to win the league.”
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