{"id":2027,"date":"2026-04-12T01:22:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2027"},"modified":"2026-04-12T01:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T01:22:06","slug":"paul-merson-warns-arsenal-stars-are-smashed-to-pieces-after-latest-title-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2027","title":{"rendered":"Paul Merson warns Arsenal stars are &#8216;smashed to pieces&#8217; after latest title blow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_b6bb55\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">Arsenal were beaten by Bournemouth at the Emirates as they opened the door for Manchester City and Paul Merson insists they need to keep their head down in the coming days<\/h2>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36999689\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Paul Merson admits the outside noise will ramp up following Arsenal's loss\" loading=\"eager\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 508px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999689.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_Screenshot-2026-04-11-at-171158.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999689.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s508\/0_Screenshot-2026-04-11-at-171158.jpg 508w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999689.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_Screenshot-2026-04-11-at-171158.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999689.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_Screenshot-2026-04-11-at-171158.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Paul Merson admits the outside noise will ramp up following Arsenal's loss\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Paul Merson admits the outside noise will ramp up following Arsenal&#8217;s loss<cite aria-label=\"Image: Sky Sports\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: Sky Sports)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Paul Merson has told the Arsenal players to avoid all of the reaction to their Bournemouth loss with growing concerns they could collapse after the Premier League title race was blown wide open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Gunners&#8217; poor run continued on Saturday as they were shocked at home by the Cherries, who extended their unbeaten run to 12 games. Alex Scott came up with a second-half winner that has put Manchester City in control of their own destiny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Arsenal have sat top for the majority of the season but have lost three of their last four games. That has seen them miss out on the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup whilst their league ambitions are now being questioned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side let leads at the top slip in 2023 and 2024, being overhauled by City on both occasions. Now the Manchester outfit could again take charge if they win their games in hand and see off Arsenal next week &#8211; leading to talk of another collapse.<\/p>\n<p><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_020eaf\">READ MORE<!-- -->: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\">Mikel Arteta sends message to bruised Arsenal stars after painful Bournemouth defeat<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_020eaf\">READ MORE<!-- -->: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\">How Man City can go top in ELEVEN days after massive Arsenal slip up<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Merson said on <a aria-label=\"Sky SportsLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Sky Sports<\/a> on their confidence: &#8220;It will have been smashed it to pieces. Now all of a sudden, if Man City win all their games, they&#8217;re level on points. Plus they&#8217;ve got two games to make the goal difference up. This is now, you&#8217;ve got to keep away from the press, the papers and social media because everybody will be saying &#8216;here comes the melt&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;That is a terrible, terrible result today. Bad performance as well. No energy, no &#8216;let&#8217;s go and take the game to Bournemouth, it was sloppy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">City face Chelsea on Sunday before taking on Arsenal the following week at the Etihad &#8211; a venue Arteta has never won at as Gunners boss. Days later they face Championship-bound Burnley and wins in all three games could see them go top on goal difference. Merson though has backed the Blues to stop City winning when they face off at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"image-group\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX false\" data-testid=\"imageembed-36999357\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36999357\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arsenal's poor form continued with a loss to Bournemouth - their third reverse in four outings\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 458px) 458px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458b\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg 458w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Arsenal's poor form continued with a loss to Bournemouth - their third reverse in four outings\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Arsenal&#8217;s poor form continued with a loss to Bournemouth &#8211; their third reverse in four outings<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side were sensational when they beat Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final, producing a dominant display in the second-half. In their next outing they hammered Liverpool 4-0 to make the last four of the FA Cup, whilst Arsenal themselves were shocked by Southampton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Arsenal, for all their progress under Arteta, have continued to cop flack for failing to land any silverware. Their FA Cup success in 2020 remains their most recent trophy and they&#8217;ve continued to miss out when well placed in competitions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/Feq1SEG6mXDIZGTTnek7oz\" rel=\"nofollow\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\"><em>Join our new WhatsApp community<\/em><\/a>  and receive your daily dose of <em>Mirror<\/em> <em>Football<\/em> content. 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Any online orders will be dispatched from Wednesday <\/strong><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">March 25 <\/strong><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">and postage and packaging applies.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal were beaten by Bournemouth at the Emirates as they opened the door for Manchester<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}