Paul Merson Backs Arsenal for Difficult Afternoon in North London Derby on Sunday

Sky Sports pundit and Arsenal legend Paul Merson has made his prediction for Sunday's north London derby against Tottenham, admitting that the Gunners will have

Sky Sports pundit and Arsenal legend Paul Merson has made his prediction for Sunday's north London derby against Tottenham, admitting that the Gunners will have a difficult time against Mauricio Pochettino's side. 

Tottenham ran out convincing 3-1 winners against Chelsea at Wembley last weekend thanks to goals from Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Heung-min Son - ending the Blues' unbeaten start to the league season in the process. 

David Ramos/GettyImages

Arsenal also picked up a victory last weekend, beating Bournemouth 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium, although they rode their luck a bit more than their neighbours – preserving their own unbeaten run which now stands at 18 games in all competitions. 

Merson told Sky Sports: “If you go by last weekend and it was a horse race, you couldn’t look past Tottenham. I thought Arsenal weren’t very good, it was a great result but I don’t know how they can keep on getting lucky. Liverpool was lucky at times, Wolves was lucky at times, Bournemouth was lucky at times, but you hope this isn’t the game where it runs out."

“They have some spirit about them, although against Wolves they were so open, but they’re not losing games which they probably would have last season. You don’t want to be giving this Tottenham team a headstart, and if they play with their normal energy the best Arsenal can hope for is a draw – although they do turn up for these games.

Dan Mullan/GettyImages

“Tottenham have to play like they did last weekend, or Arsenal have every chance. But if they squeeze them, they haven’t got the ball players to play around it. They should start Mesut Ozil because they need all the passers they can get.”

Tottenham sit two places and three points above Arsenal in the table, although a win for Emery's side could see them leapfrog their north London rivals.