{"id":891,"date":"2026-04-27T18:52:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=891"},"modified":"2026-04-27T18:52:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:52:46","slug":"arsenal-paul-merson-says-mikel-artetas-side-will-win-title-if-they-beat-fulham-as-jamie-carragher-warns-about-banana-skin-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=891","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal: Paul Merson says Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side will win title if they beat Fulham as Jamie Carragher warns about &#8216;banana skin&#8217; | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component-name=\"ui-article-body\" data-testid=\"article-body\" data-highlight-intro=\"true\">\n<p>Paul Merson says Arsenal will end their 22-year wait for another Premier League trophy if they beat Fulham but Jamie Carragher has warned Marco Silva&#8217;s side could be a &#8220;banana skin&#8221; in the title race.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal face Fulham, live on <em>Saturday Night Football<\/em>with a three-point advantage at the top of the table after leapfrogging Manchester City, who have a game in hand, thanks to a nervy 1-0 win against Newcastle last time out.<\/p>\n<p>Eberechi Eze&#8217;s stunner in the ninth minute gave Arsenal the perfect start in that game but they struggled from there on and came close to squandering two points in the final moments when Yoane Wissa blazed his shot over the bar from close range.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky glints-box glints-box-hover glints-box--mobile-edge  sdc-site-live-on-sky--has-link sdc-article-widget sdc-site-live-on-sky--premierleague\" data-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky\" data-sport=\"\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__wrap\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__col sdc-site-live-on-sky__col2\">\n          <span class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__time sdc-site-live-on-sky__time--with-kickoff\" data-type=\"Saturday 2nd May 5:00pm\"><\/p>\n<p>            Saturday 2nd May 5:00pm<br \/>\n          <\/span><br \/>\n            <span class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__kickoff-time\"><\/p>\n<p>                Kick off 5:30pm<br \/>\n            <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__action\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__logo sdc-site-live-on-sky__logo--colour\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/tvlogos\/channels\/4002-Logo.svg?U2t5IFNwb3J0cyBNYWluIEV2ZW50IEhE\" alt=\"Sky Sports Main Event HD\"\/><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sdc-site-live-on-sky__logo sdc-site-live-on-sky__logo--mono\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/tvlogos\/channels\/4002-Logo-Mono.svg?U2t5IFNwb3J0cyBNYWluIEV2ZW50IEhE\" alt=\"Sky Sports Main Event HD\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite the worrying performance from Arsenal, who created an expected goals value of just 0.49 xG, Merson believes their next league game will be the decisive one in the title race, regardless of their recent struggles with nerves.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Beat Fulham and it&#8217;ll be Arsenal&#8217;s league title,&#8221; he said on the <em>Premier League Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-site-video sdc-article-widget callfn\" data-account-id=\"6058004149001\" data-amp-iframe-embed=\"\" data-asset-id=\"66e6eeaf-1ffa-4130-a9c6-ab85e23dbab5\" data-asset-path=\"\" data-asset-version=\"\" data-autoplay=\"false\" data-auth-config=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/api.condatis.sky\\\/auth\\\/video\\\/token&quot;,&quot;tokenRequired&quot;:true,&quot;fetchMethod&quot;:&quot;url&quot;,&quot;fetchOptions&quot;:{&quot;encoded&quot;:true},&quot;headers&quot;:{&quot;X-SkyGDP-Proposition&quot;:&quot;sportweb&quot;,&quot;X-SkyGDP-Territory&quot;:&quot;GB&quot;,&quot;Authorization&quot;:&quot;OGY5ZDgxZjRhNzYwNGQ3MTljMjFhMDJlOGVmODRhYzA=&quot;}}\" data-caption=\"FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City\u2019s match against Arsenal in the Premier League.\" data-clip-type=\"Highlight\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-video\" data-component-name-alias=\"ui-sitewide-video\" data-competition=\"\" data-copy-url-text=\"URL copied to clipboard\" data-fn=\"sdc-site-video\" data-id=\"id_66e6eeaf-1ffa-4130-a9c6-ab85e23dbab5\" data-is-live-stream=\"false\" data-lite=\"true\" data-options=\"\" data-originator-id=\"50\" data-originator-handle=\"brightcove-plclips-gb\" data-package-name=\"\" data-provider=\"brightcove\" data-player-id=\"FkTAlw1HuO\" data-playsinline=\"\" data-sensitive=\"\" data-sdc-id=\"7224673\" data-sdc-video-id=\"66e6eeaf-1ffa-4130-a9c6-ab85e23dbab5\" data-sport-category=\"\" data-state=\"loading\" data-token-state=\"none\" data-video-ad-unit=\"football\/premier-league-clips\" data-video-blacklisted-originator-ids=\"\" data-video-id=\"ref:66e6eeaf-1ffa-4130-a9c6-ab85e23dbab5\" data-video-type=\"Highlight\" data-auto-pause-on-not-visible=\"\" data-defer-source=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-closed-captions-position=\"\" data-show-closed-captions=\"false\" data-show-pip=\"\" data-show-live-stream-scrubber=\"\" data-autoload=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__content\" data-role=\"bridge-controller\" style=\"padding-bottom: calc(100% \/ ());\">\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>          <span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-role=\"poster\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/sky-sports-man-city-arsenal_7224677.jpg?20260419190814\" alt=\"Man City 2-1 Arsenal | Premier League highlights\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/sky-sports-man-city-arsenal_7224677.jpg?20260419190814 600w,https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/1600x900\/sky-sports-man-city-arsenal_7224677.jpg?20260419190814\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-poster\"\/><br \/>\n          <span class=\"sdc-site-video__loader\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-loader\"\/><\/p>\n<p>          <\/span><\/p>\n<p>          <video id=\"id_66e6eeaf-1ffa-4130-a9c6-ab85e23dbab5\" data-embed=\"default\" data-application-id=\"\" class=\"video-js sdc-site-video__tag\" controls=\"\" playsinline=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-video\"\/>\n        <\/div><figcaption class=\"sdc-site-video__caption ui-media-caption\">\n<p>          <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-role=\"caption-text\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-caption\">FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City\u2019s match against Arsenal in the Premier League.<\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Arsenal never really looked like scoring (vs Newcastle) and that&#8217;s a worry. You go 1-0 up against a struggling Newcastle team, you think they are going to kick on but they didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That is the problem, everybody is nervous. You get to the end of the season and any mistake, that is it, end of.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the end, they were hanging on. It&#8217;s a hard watch. I don&#8217;t mean that because the football is not great, it&#8217;s just a hard watch because of the nerves.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It can&#8217;t be again. You can&#8217;t come second four times on the trot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Carragher: Fulham could be Arsenal&#8217;s banana skin in title race<\/h3>\n<p>Carragher believes trying to balance both European football and the title race could have major implications come the end of the season, warning that Fulham could be a &#8220;banana skin&#8221; for the league leaders, four days after facing Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-factbox\" data-testid=\"article-factbox\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text-wrapper\">\n<p><h4 class=\"sdc-article-factbox__title\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-title\">Arsenal&#8217;s remaining fixtures<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"sdc-article-factbox__list\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list\">\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">April 29: Atletico Madrid (a) &#8211; Champions League<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">May 2: Fulham (h) &#8211; Premier League<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">May 5: Atletico Madrid (h) &#8211; Champions League<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">May 10: West Ham (a) &#8211; Premier League<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">May 17: Burnley (h) &#8211; Premier League<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">May 24: Crystal Palace (a) &#8211; Premier League<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;If Arsenal continue in that vein, as we saw at the weekend against Newcastle, I don&#8217;t see them winning all the games,&#8221; Carragher told <em>Sky Sports News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Arsenal have been a little bit unlucky with the scheduling. They&#8217;re playing Wednesday-Tuesday (in the Champions League).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People might think, &#8216;what&#8217;s the difference?&#8217; But you&#8217;re playing three games in six days as opposed to three games in eight days. That&#8217;s a big difference when you&#8217;re at this stage of the season and you&#8217;re thinking of fatigue as well.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-site-video sdc-article-widget callfn\" data-account-id=\"6057984924001\" data-amp-iframe-embed=\"\" data-asset-id=\"a61bdd1d-0397-4ac6-93ba-adb7c312f7b6\" data-asset-path=\"\" data-asset-version=\"\" data-autoplay=\"false\" data-auth-config=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/api.condatis.sky\\\/auth\\\/video\\\/token&quot;,&quot;tokenRequired&quot;:true,&quot;fetchMethod&quot;:&quot;url&quot;,&quot;fetchOptions&quot;:{&quot;encoded&quot;:true},&quot;headers&quot;:{&quot;X-SkyGDP-Proposition&quot;:&quot;sportweb&quot;,&quot;X-SkyGDP-Territory&quot;:&quot;GB&quot;,&quot;Authorization&quot;:&quot;OGY5ZDgxZjRhNzYwNGQ3MTljMjFhMDJlOGVmODRhYzA=&quot;}}\" data-caption=\"Jamie Carragher believes Fulham possess the ability to pose a stumbling block in Arsenal's charge for the title.\" data-clip-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-video\" data-component-name-alias=\"ui-sitewide-video\" data-competition=\"\" data-copy-url-text=\"URL copied to clipboard\" data-fn=\"sdc-site-video\" data-id=\"id_a61bdd1d-0397-4ac6-93ba-adb7c312f7b6\" data-is-live-stream=\"false\" data-lite=\"true\" data-options=\"\" data-originator-id=\"49\" data-originator-handle=\"brightcove-sport-gb\" data-package-name=\"\" data-provider=\"brightcove\" data-player-id=\"DESF5xFjJ\" data-playsinline=\"\" data-sensitive=\"\" data-sdc-id=\"7232304\" data-sdc-video-id=\"a61bdd1d-0397-4ac6-93ba-adb7c312f7b6\" data-sport-category=\"\" data-state=\"loading\" data-token-state=\"none\" data-video-ad-unit=\"videoplayer\" data-video-blacklisted-originator-ids=\"\" data-video-id=\"ref:a61bdd1d-0397-4ac6-93ba-adb7c312f7b6\" data-video-type=\"\" data-auto-pause-on-not-visible=\"\" data-defer-source=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-closed-captions-position=\"\" data-show-closed-captions=\"true\" data-show-pip=\"\" data-show-live-stream-scrubber=\"\" data-autoload=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__content\" data-role=\"bridge-controller\" style=\"padding-bottom: calc(100% \/ ());\">\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>          <span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-role=\"poster\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-jamie-carragher-mikel-arteta_7232331.jpg?20260427165803\" alt=\"Jamie Carragher, Mikel Arteta\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-jamie-carragher-mikel-arteta_7232331.jpg?20260427165803 600w,https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/1600x900\/skysports-jamie-carragher-mikel-arteta_7232331.jpg?20260427165803\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-poster\"\/><br \/>\n          <span class=\"sdc-site-video__loader\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-loader\"\/><\/p>\n<p>          <\/span><\/p>\n<p>          <video id=\"id_a61bdd1d-0397-4ac6-93ba-adb7c312f7b6\" data-embed=\"default\" data-application-id=\"\" class=\"video-js sdc-site-video__tag\" controls=\"\" playsinline=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-video\"\/>\n        <\/div><figcaption class=\"sdc-site-video__caption ui-media-caption\">\n<p>          <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-role=\"caption-text\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-caption\">Jamie Carragher believes Fulham possess the ability to pose a stumbling block in Arsenal&#8217;s charge for the title.<\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Can you recover quickly enough from a Wednesday night in Madrid to travel back and then you play Saturday against Fulham? That&#8217;s a big ask, and Fulham are a decent side.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It will feel like for Arsenal or Manchester City that one draw and you&#8217;ll feel like the league&#8217;s lost.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think Fulham are a really good team, and there&#8217;s a chance that could be the real banana skin for Arsenal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Merson says Arsenal will end their 22-year wait for another Premier League trophy if they beat Fulham but Jamie Carragher has warned Marco Silva&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}