Friday 10 February 2017 19:51, UK
Paul Merson says Arsene Wenger keeps getting his tactics "horribly wrong" with Arsenal - but insists he will still be in charge of the club next season.
The Gunners were outplayed in last Saturday's 3-1 defeat away at Chelsea and trail the Premier League leaders by 12 points ahead of the visit of Hull, live on Sky Sports 1 HD, on Saturday lunchtime.
And former Arsenal forward, Merson, says Hull boss Marco Silva gave Chelsea a sterner test than Wenger managed, suggesting they need more variety in their tactics.
"Tactically they are not good enough," he told Sky Sports News HQ's Premier League Daily.
"Three weeks ago, Hull went to Chelsea and set up to make it very difficult for Chelsea to win that game and Hull were unlucky. They were always in the game.
"Wenger sets up the same old way every week: 'we've got good players, so let's go out and play'.
"They have once tried to stifle a team away from home - and that was Man City the year before last. They won the game and they were absolutely outstanding.
I think he'll see out the DFS sale if I'm being honest and he'll still be the manager when that sale finishes!
"They had Santi Cazorla that day and that was the only time I've really ever seen them set up to stop a team and then play from a base.
"You watch these other teams go and do it and you ask why can't Arsenal do it? For me, that's when you have to say the manager is getting something horribly wrong."
Wenger refused to confirm this week whether or not he has been offered a new contract, despite newspaper reports of a two-year deal being on the table, but Merson says the Frenchman is going nowhere.
"I think he'll stay," he added. "I think he'll see out the DFS sale if I'm being honest and he'll still be the manager when that sale finishes!
"He will sign and everything will be rosy again on Saturday. They will win, they play early and they will go up to third and everything is rosy again.
"Now they have to make the top four."
However, Merson fears that Alexis Sanchez, a player he describes as the only "great" footballer in Arsenal's squad, may be reluctant to sign on.
"My problem is Sanchez," he said. "He needs to sign and he hasn't signed - and that's very worrying for Arsenal.
"He probably goes out there and plays and thinks 'what chance have I got here, we ain't good enough?'
"He's a top, top player and he is playing for a top, top club. Don't get me wrong, it's a phenomenal football club but he's not playing for a top, top team.
"They haven't got great players. They've got one great player and then another one [Mesut Ozil] on his day when he turns up is a great player, but that's it."
