Paul Merson has been the butt of many a joke on social media in recent weeks after his rant against the appointment of Marco Silva at Hull was made to look very silly and uninformed as the Portuguese has guided the seemingly doomed club to a fantastic run of form and results.
But on Thursday night it was a different reason why Merson's name was trending on twitter after he incurred the wrath of Arsenal fans for making the claim that only Alexis Sanchez, of all of Arsenal's players, would make into the Spurs starting XI.
Merson was chatting to Jeff Stelling and previewing the upcoming weekend of football for Sky Bet when he admitted that during a conversation with a pal recently he came to the alarming realisation.
Stelling let out an audible 'Ooof', perhaps as he anticipated the backlash that would follow.
And it did not go down well with Arsenal fans.
A former Arsenal player, and a good one at that, many are frustrated with the way he talks about the club during times of trouble.
Paul Merson shouldn't be affiliated with Arsenal. Fat prick just lives to embarrass us & himself.
"Only Sanchez would get into Spurs' team."— Abdul (@Flaminiesta) February 9, 2017
@SkyFootball Paul Merson has started smoking crack then ? Cech Koscielny Bellerin Cazorla Ozil Sanchez Iwobi
— Justin Alexis (@DonJustinAlexis) February 9, 2017
@SkyFootball pic.twitter.com/10jZTiZQEu
— sam (@IwobiFlick) February 9, 2017
@SkyFootball lmao Bellerin? Cazorla? Mustafi? Ozil? Walcott? Wouldn't take 1 spurs player in the Arsenal XI
— xmattinho 〽 (@xmattinho_afc) February 9, 2017
Merson says only Alexis Sanchez is the only player who would make it into the spuds starting 11....ok then Mers, you drunk, bell end!!!
— EugeneMcb (@irish_gunner) February 9, 2017
But the big question is... Is Merson right?
Names like Petr Cech, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil, and Santi Cazorla, have been suggested as possible players who could infiltrate the strongest XI that Spurs could put out, but at the same time the Tottenham fans are in full agreement with Merson.
The point he is making is that Spurs now possess a better squad than Arsenal, something that simply hasn't been up for debate for a very long time, and with pressure mounting around Arsene Wenger's position as manager, maybe this won't be something that comes back to bite the Soccer Saturday pundit like the Marco Silva rant did.
