Arsenal news: Ian Wright proven correct as pundit warns of ‘severe pressure’

The league leaders are now just five wins away from potentially securing a historic double. Here, Mirror Football takes a look at two of the latest stories involving Arsenal.

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta reveals double Arsenal injury boost ahead of Atletico Madrid clashREAD MORE: Paul Merson tells Arsenal they have finally found their own Erling Haaland

Paul Merson’s ‘severe pressure’ claim

Arsenal legend Paul Merson says there will be “severe pressure” on Arsenal if City win their two games in hand. The Gunners currently have a slight mental edge over Pep Guardiola’s side, given they have already secured six points, while City still need to win their two games in hand to draw level on points heading into the final three games of the campaign.

But former Arsenal midfielder Merson has warned it could get sticky for the north Londoners if they head into Sunday’s fixture at West Ham level on points with City, given the added pressure they will feel.

Merson said: “If Man City win the next two games against Everton and Brentford, there’s severe pressure for Arsenal to beat West Ham. That is one hard game. West Ham are fighting for their lives in the Premier League.

“Then you don’t know what happens on Tuesday night, it might go to extra time. There’s so much to go with it.

“If I had to pick a team [to win the title] at the moment, I’d have to pick Arsenal because of the fixtures that Man City have got. They have to play Everton and Bournemouth and they’re difficult matches.”

Ian Wright proven right on Gyokeres

Ian Wright has been proven correct after claiming Arsenal brought in Gyokeres to score against teams outside the traditional big six. When Gyokeres was signed for around £64million last summer, certain pundits voiced doubts over his remarkable goal-scoring record at Sporting CP by saying the majority of his goals came against weaker opposition in the Portuguese league.

Wright, who himself was a clinical striker for the Gunners in his heyday, instead insisted that Arsenal were one pure goal-scorer away from winning the league in previous seasons. Despite Gyokeres’ obvious struggles in his first season in N5, he has now managed 21 goals in all competitions.

With two of those crucial goals coming against Fulham, the Swede justified Wright’s earlier suggestions. Speaking after the win over Fulham, Wright re-iterated his view, telling Premier League Live: “People have been saying for many years Arsenal need to get a striker. Then we get the striker and people say he’s not good enough.

“You have to say 21 goals, obviously 12 in the Premier League, says that he’s done the job for us. He did the job for us today and I’m sure against the teams we’ve got coming like West Ham, I think he could probably put in the same kind of performance and probably nick another couple of goals.

“If he only scores against those kind of teams that’s what Arsenal have always needed. They don’t have problems scoring against the top six, it’s the other teams like the Fulhams and the Wolves and the teams like that we’ve had problems scoring against. He’s come in and he’s kind of solved that problem for us.”