Paul Merson makes bold Tottenham comparison with Arsenal
By Dominic Toner
Paul Merson believes that attacker Alexis Sanchez is the only Arsenal player that would get into Tottenham’s starting XI.
Sky Sports pundit Merson has made the bold statement that only one Gunners player would make it into the Spurs side, despite only three points separating them in the Premier League table.
Arsenal talisman Sanchez is regarded as one of the standout players in England and has a phenomenal record this season across all competitions, scoring 17 goals and supplying 16 assists in just 31 appearances.
Arsene Wenger’s side also have stars such as Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny, Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud in their ranks.
However, Merson believes that only Sanchez would be good enough to slot into Mauricio Pochettino’s best starting line-up.
“I was talking to someone the other day and I said that if you put Tottenham’s best 11 that they can get on the football pitch and put Arsenal best 11 next to it, Sanchez is the only player that gets in [to Spurs’ team],” Merson said, as quoted by Sky Sports. “If you go through the team, I just don’t see who else gets in – that can’t be right.”
Spurs have managed to close the gap to their north London rivals Arsenal in recent seasons, with the latter being heavyweights in English football during the Premier League era.
Pochettino has managed to assemble a strong squad at White Hart Lane, with their defensive set-up of Hugo Lloris, Kyle Walker, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose all particularly strong.
Meanwhile, the Gunners do also have some quality in their defence, but they have conceded 12 more goals than Spurs in the league this season.
Midfield pairing Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele have played colossal roles in Spurs’ success this campaign, while Arsenal have alternated between Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Cazorla.
The Gunners supporters may disagree strongly with Merson in the forward department and feel that Ozil, Giroud, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck could all break into the side if they were at Spurs.
In other Tottenham news, the club have delivered injury updates for their key players.
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