Swansea vs Arsenal: Gunners have more guile than Liverpool says Paul Merson

Arsenal travel to Swansea City in the Premier League on Tuesday (30 January) and former Gunners forward Paul Merson believes that the north London club have the guile to put one over the Swans at a place where Liverpool failed to take a single point only a week back.

The Welsh club gave their survival hopes a huge boost with a massive 1-0 win over Jurgen Klopp's men, only days after the Merseyside club had ended Manchester City's unbeaten run with a 4-3 win at Anfield. The Reds have been found culpable of struggling to break down teams who sit back to defend, while easily getting the better of their top six rivals.

Arsenal will have an opportunity to field new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who made his way to the Emirates from Manchester United, which saw Alexis Sanchez go the other way in a swap deal. The Armenian was cup-tied in the Gunners' semi-final clash against Chelsea where they managed a convincing 2-1 victory to set up a date with City in the finals.

Arsenal are favourites to win at the Liberty Stadium and maintain their push for a place in the top four and Merson believes that Arsene Wenger will have more luck than his German rival in breaking down the Swans' stodgy defence. The north London club are currently five points adrift of the Reds and a win here will put further pressure on Klopp's men who lost their FA Cup fourth round tie in the weekend to West Brom.

"Arsenal head to Swansea, hoping to succeed where Liverpool failed just over a week ago at the Liberty Stadium. Swansea will play in exactly the same way as they did against Liverpool. They'll defend in numbers but for me, Arsenal have got a bit more guile than Liverpool," Merson told Sky Sports, as quoted by the Express.

"They'll create more chances than Liverpool did and that will be the difference. We could see the debut of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and if it was me, I'd definitely play him. Some people might say he hasn't had much football in recent months but with the way Swansea will set up, Arsenal will have a lot of the ball.

"They could have up to 70 per cent possession so his creativity will prove useful."