Paul Merson’s pre-match prediction that ‘might come back to bite Arsenal’ comes true in Aston Villa clash

PAUL Merson made a pre-match prediction before Arsenal’s game against Aston Villa that came true.

The Sky Sports pundit was in the studio at the Emirates as the Gunners entertained Unai Emery’s side.

Merse, who played for Arsenal and Aston Villa, revealed his surprise that Jorginho was left out of Mikel Arteta’s line up.

“I hope this doesn’t come back to bite them,” the former England star said with his reasoning being the Italy midfielder offers them a better team shape.

And Merson proved to be right, with a disjointed Arsenal struggling to accommodate a number of attacking players in their first eleven.

Mystic Merse’s wise words are now making the rounds on X.

Several fans have commented about his prophecy.

One fan tweeted: “Normally I dismiss whatever Paul Merson says and I did pre match. However, he might be right.

“He said Jorginho was taken out the team at a key game in the run in and it cost Arsenal. He said it was a mistake and they might be repeating history.”

A second wrote: “Paul Merson was right when he said that Arteta made a mistake by leaving out Jorginho out of the starting line up,just like he did last season against Southampton.. Be that as it may, Arsenal lack the maturity of being title contenders when it matters most..”

A third opined: “Merson was saying on @SkySports Jorginho shouldn’t been left out from the start & was saying hope he is proved wrong.”

A fourth shared: “i can’t lie paul merson called it before the game he mentioned arteta trying to fit in the players and leaving out jorginho was a mistake he made last year in a particularly similar situation against southampton he went and did it again today and it’s cost them it failed.”

While a fifth posted: “Paul merson called this before the game & he pointed the finger at arteta for changing the shape and leaving out jorginho.”

Arsenal suffered a big blow in the title race – losing to Champions League place chasing Villa 2-0.

After missing a flurry of chances in the first half, the visitors then hit the inside of the post.

But in the second half Villa asserted their dominance, and were unlucky not to go a goal ahead when a Youri Tielemans’ effort hit both the crossbar and post, before bouncing away to safety.

However, they weren’t to be denied – with Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins sealing a famous victory late on.