The 50-year-old believes that the players would have to be much more fit mentally if they hope to finish above fifth or sixth.
Merson told Sky Sports: “If you want to keep on coming along making money and finishing fifth or sixth, nothing has to change. But if you want to break in, get to that level, it’s going to need a better mentality of player; I don’t think the players are mentally strong enough.
“I don’t see it – when it went 2-0 and the picture panned away and Bernardo Silva ran to the crowd, it was like Laurel and Hardy with Mesut Ozil, ‘that’s the end of that game’.
“They just seem like a lovely bunch of lads, not even Granit Xhaka is getting them to come on – you never see it with Arsenal.”
13 thoughts on “Paul Merson says Arsenal players are not “mentally strong enough””