Paul Merson has warned Arsenal central defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba they cannot afford to fall asleep for a second in Sunday’s summit meeting against Manchester City.
The top two in each of the last two seasons are already leading the way again ahead of this weekend’s fixtures.
Arsenal took four points of the champions last term and kept clean sheets in both Premier League fixtures against Pep Guardiola’s relentless winning machine.
Mikel Arteta’s men were, however, criticised and accused of playing for the goalless draw they secured during the run-in last term but are likely to employ similar tactics again.
Saliba and Gabriel were imperious in last weekend’s 1-0 north London derby victory against Spurs and Merson believes they will need to be even more alert this weekend in a bid to stop a rampant Erling Haaland.
‘Gabriel and Saliba will want to play against Haaland, someone who is going to go right up against them and wants a battle,’ Merson told Sky Sports.
‘He wants a battle, they want a battle and it works nicely for them. It’s when you get players who keep wanting to drop into the No.10 position and keep coming off the lines and causing Saliba and Gabriel problems of do I go or do I stay.
‘They won’t have that this weekend but they will have to be for 96 or 97 minutes, however long the referee play for, be alive for every second of that football match.
‘They’ve only got to fall asleep for one second and if their concentration goes and the crosses are going to be a lot better than they were against Spurs.
‘They fall asleep then Haaland scores and that’s the end of the game.’
The Gunners must first content with Atalanta in the Champions League this evening and Arteta is anticipating a stiff examination of his side.
‘It’s very difficult to play against them!’ he said. ‘They have a particular playing style which you see week-in, week-out and it’s very challenging for opponents coming up against them.
‘In the last two seasons, the Premier League has changed a lot, you’ve got a lot of squads that are doing similar things to them and we need to be prepared ahead of tomorrow.’