Paul Merson makes Arsenal title claim after slip-up against Wolves

Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 away to basement boys Wolves (Picture: Getty)

Paul Merson says he is ‘half-scared’ about Arsenal’s title chances following the side’s 2-2 draw with Wolves and believes ‘something is missing’ in Mikel Arteta’s squad.

Top-of-the-table Arsenal appeared to be cruising towards a comfortable victory against rock-bottom Wolves after Bukayo Saka headed home to open the scoring in only the fifth minute.

Piero Hincapie doubled the Gunners’ advantage with a composed strike midway through the second half, with the visitors seemingly in total control at a rain-drenched Molineux.

But the home team launched a stunning fightback against all odds, kick-started by the impressive Hugo Bueno, who beat David Raya with an outstanding long-range strike to halve the deficit on the hour-mark.

And after a tense final 30 minutes, the pressure eventually told as Wolves debutant Samuel Edozie hammered the ball in off Riccardo Calafiori – following a fumble from Raya – to equalise at the death .

The draw secured Wolves only their tenth point of the entire top-flight campaign. The leaders, meanwhile, squandered the opportunity to move seven points clear of second-placed Manchester City at the other end of the table.

Arteta’s men will look to regroup in double-quick time and issue an emphatic response when they return to action away to bitter rivals Tottenham this weekend.

Edozie struck the ball in off Calafiori to equalise in stoppage time (Picture: Getty)

The away team appeared to be cruising after Hincapie’s second-half strike (Picture: Getty)

‘ Manchester City now have Newcastle and Leeds and you’d take that over Tottenham and Chelsea ,’ ex-Arsenal midfielder Merson said following the Gunners’ setback in the Sky Sports studio.

‘I wouldn’t want to be in Arsenal ’s shoes if it [miss out on the title] happens again.

‘I was quite shocked by Mikel Arteta ’s post-match interview then. It’s the first time, really, that I’ve seen him not majorly positive.

‘Usually, he comes out, “We’ve done this, we’ve done that”, and he’ll be saying, “Oh, we deserved it here, they deserved it here”.

Merson has big concerns about Arsenal’s display against the Premier League’s bottom side (Picture: Getty)

‘Instead of coming out saying, “We’re five points clear, as long as we don’t get beaten by Manchester City, we win the league”, but it wasn’t like that, though.

‘I was a bit worried with that interview. You can only do so much to the team and when you’re watching that, there’s something missing. I can’t put my finger on it but there’s something missing.

‘Something is missing and I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes if they don’t win the league this year.’

Arteta looked despondent at the full-time whistle (Picture: Getty)

Later on in his post-match analysis, Merson was reminded of something Patrick Vieira had said following the side’s 3-2 defeat at home to Manchester United last month.

‘If they don’t win the league this year, I remember Patrick Vieira saying before the Manchester United game, when he was on with Roy Keane, he said it was now or never,’ he recalled.

‘I’m starting to think that too now. I was very bullish about Arsenal winning the league. That’s half-scared me tonight.’

Arsenal fell below the ‘standards’ expected of them at Molineux, admitted Saka (Picture: Getty)

Speaking to Sky Sports shortly after the final whistle, Bukayo Saka gave an insight into the gloomy mood in the dressing room following a second successive draw.

‘Yeah, it’s very flat,’ the England forward, who wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Martin Odegaard, said.

‘We’re very disappointed with the result and especially with the way we played in the second half. Far from the standards we’ve set this season.

‘It’s time for us to reflect on the last few performances and fix the issues immediately, so we can get back to winning games, go on a run and build momentum because we’ve lost that a bit right now.’

According to Saka, Arsenal need to get back to the ‘basics’ that helped them open up such an imperious lead in the first half of the campaign.

‘I just think we have to get back to our level,’ he added.