{"id":9632,"date":"2026-05-09T13:45:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=9632"},"modified":"2026-05-09T13:45:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:45:53","slug":"paul-merson-says-incredible-arsenal-star-is-like-a-new-signing-for-mikel-arteta-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=9632","title":{"rendered":"Paul Merson says &#8216;incredible&#8217; Arsenal star is &#8216;like a new signing&#8217; for Mikel Arteta | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28299271\" alt=\"Manchester United v Arsenal FC - Premier League\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Arsenal legend Paul Merson (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Paul Merson says two Arsenal players have been \u2018like new signings\u2019 for Mikel Arteta and has revealed his prediction for the Premier League clash against West Ham.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners travel to east London on Sunday hoping to move a step closer to their first Premier League title since 2004.<\/p>\n<p>An away game against relegation-battlers and London rivals West Ham is seen by many as the last obstacle to Arsenal seeing off title rivals Manchester City.<\/p>\n<p>But Merson has backed Arsenal to clinch a \u2018comfortable win\u2019 at the London Stadium and send West Ham even closer to relegation.<\/p>\n<p>Merson has been impressed by Arsenal\u2019s recent form and says Myles Lewis-Skelly and Bukayo Saka have been \u2018like new signings\u2019 for Gunners boss Arteta.<\/p>\n<p>Lewis-Skelly has hardly played for his boyhood club this season but startedlast weekend\u2019s Premier League win over Fulham and the subsequent Champions League semi-final victory over Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>Saka scored in both of those games and has impressed since returning from injury following a difficult spell for Arsenal during the middle of the season.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274802002_6176eb.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28299418\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Mikel Arteta takes his team to West Ham on Sunday (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018This game is definitely the last hope for Manchester City in terms of Arsenal slipping up in the title race again,\u2019 Merson told Sportskeeda.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018After this, Arsenal have Burnley at home and Crystal Palace away on the final day of the season. If Palace reach the Conference League final, they will definitely rest all their main players against Arsenal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018West Ham\u00a0will know this is a tough game. They have to come out and play since they are trailing Spurs. I don\u2019t think that will suit them against Arsenal.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"395\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274805418.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28299428\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Myles Lewis-Skelly during Arsenal\u2019s Champions League win (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018Bukayo Saka looks fresh, Myles Lewis-Skelly has been incredible in the last couple of games.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The thing is, Lewis-Skelly hasn\u2019t played 50 or 60 games like Declan Rice or Martin Zubimendi. He provides fresh legs in midfield at a crucial stage of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Both Saka and Lewis-Skelly have been like new signings for\u00a0Arsenal\u00a0in this final run-in for the title.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274591619.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28299466\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Bukayo Saka scored in Arsenal\u2019s last two games (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018I believe Arsenal will get a comfortable win here, 2-0. If so it\u2019s all over for Man City!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Ex-Premier League striker Chris Sutton has also highlighted the importance of Saka\u2019s return to Arsenal\u2019s title charge.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Arsenal\u00a0look like a totally different proposition on the attacking front now Bukayo Saka is back in the team,\u2019 he told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It is going to be hard for\u00a0West Ham\u00a0to keep them out, and it doesn\u2019t help the Hammers that they desperately need a victory here after losing last weekend while all the teams around them won.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A draw wouldn\u2019t be a disaster for\u00a0West Ham\u00a0if you took this game in isolation but, depending on what\u00a0Tottenham\u00a0do against\u00a0Leeds\u00a0on Monday night, even if they pick up a point they could end up further adrift.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Arsenal\u00a0have had big wins at London Stadium in each of the past two seasons. I don\u2019t see them sticking five or six in again this time, but I also don\u2019t see them slipping up.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Saka and Declan Rice was on target as Arsenal beat West Ham 2-0 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium earlier in the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><br \/>\n<strong>Facebook,\u00a0<\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Why Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko miss Man Utd game against Sunderland<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Sunderland vs Man Utd LIVE: Premier League latest score and goal updates as Casemiro and Sesko miss out<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Arsenal suffer Champions League final blow with PSG star set to return from injury<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/> Paul Merson says &#8216;incredible&#8217; Arsenal star is &#8216;like a new signing&#8217; for Mikel Arteta | Football<br \/>\n<br \/>#Paul #Merson #incredible #Arsenal #star #signing #Mikel #Arteta #Football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal legend Paul Merson (Picture: Getty) Paul Merson says two Arsenal players have been \u2018like&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[361,673,317,2529,1030,672,570,538,541],"class_list":["post-9632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-arsenal","tag-arteta","tag-football","tag-incredible","tag-merson","tag-mikel","tag-paul","tag-signing","tag-star"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2152069342_1778333291-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/news678.top\/?cat=6\" rel=\"category\">Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}