Arsenal told they have Premier League title advantage over Liverpool that nobody has noticed yet

Former Gunner Paul Merson believes Arsenal have the upper hand over Premier League title rivals Liverpool in this weekend's fixtures, though he concedes the race could actually come to a gutting end.

For the first time this season, Liverpool's tough exterior seems to be showing signs of weakness. They have remained undefeated since game week four, yet recent away draws against Everton and Aston Villa have failed to make the most of a game in hand, and then an extra match ahead of Arsenal.

So the points gap stands at eight, with Mikel Arteta's side needing to catch up by one fixture and 13 rounds to go. They next face West Ham on Saturday, while Arne Slot's team travel to Manchester City.

With his former club scheduled to play first on Saturday, Merson tells Sportskeeda: "Arsenal have an advantage this week since they are playing before Liverpool.

"If they beat West Ham, they close that gap at the top to just five points. And if Liverpool lose at City on Sunday, the title race is wide open! This will be a hard game for Arsenal though."

He explains this will be the case judging from last weekend's performance at Leicester City. Mikel Merino rescued three points at the death after Arteta's only three fit attacking options could not force a way through.

"The football wasn't free-flowing at all," Merson continued. "I was gutted for Raheem Sterling because for some reason he just can't seem to get going at Arsenal.

"Despite his goal in the last game, I think Merino will be left on the bench here. I expect Mikel Arteta to use the same front three he used against Leicester."

In his last judgement of Arsenal vs West Ham, he called it a 'must-win' clash due to the tough run of fixtures that follow.

And Merson also says so as he believes the Reds will go the Etihad Stadium and 'rip City apart', getting the four points he feels they require from their away fixtures over the past week.

Summarising, he added: "A win for Liverpool here would be the end for Arsenal's title hopes. Once they beat City, I expect Liverpool to beat Newcastle and Southampton.

"Now that's 13 points out of a possible 15 against arguably three of the top six teams in the league. That is champion mentality in my opinion."