Arsenal take on Aston Villa tonight at the Emirates.
The Gunners are just one point above this weekend’s opponents in the table, but a win will bring them within one point of the top four.
Although Mikel Arteta’s team are unbeaten in their last five Premier League outings, they’ll be feeling as though this is a must-win game after failing to beat Brighton and Crystal Palace in their previous two matchdays.
Luckily, pundits Paul Merson and Mark Lawrenson are on their side, as both are predicting the Gunners to edge a 2-1 win in front of their home crowd.
“Arsenal have done alright in the Premier League so far,” Merson wrote in his Sportskeeda column.
“People said it was a bad result the other day against Crystal Palace, but I think this is the kind of game they lost a couple of years ago.
“In recent weeks, they've kept sticking at it and need to win this one badly, as otherwise, it'll quickly become three games without a win in the Premier League.
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“Aston Villa, on the other hand, had a nightmare result against Wolves. They were 2-0 up with 10 minutes left on the clock but somehow squandered their advantage, as they made a series of wrong substitutions.
“It'll be a tough game, but I expect Arsenal to just edge this one.”
Lawrenson is also predicting a close affair, but thinks that Arsenal will just edge it, primarily because they’ve got home support.
“Both these teams are in mid-table for a reason – there are some positives about the way they have started the season, but there are ways to get at them too,” he told BBC Sport.
“Aston Villa suffered a late collapse against Wolves last time out, while Arsenal scraped a draw with Crystal Palace on Monday in a game that said more about where they are at the moment than their recent run of three straight wins did.
“The Gunners probably thought they had turned the corner after their poor start to the season but I don’t think that is the case. I’m going with them to win this one, but that is mainly down to them having home advantage – it is going to be another close one.”
