Arsenal hero Paul Merson has warned his former club to keep their focus on achieving a top four finish this season after their impressive start to the 2022/23 season.
The Gunners find themselves top of the Premier League after 12 games with 10 victories and only one defeat. They sit two points above reigning champions Manchester City, forcing Pep Guardiola to admit Arsenal as his side's 'number one' rival to lift the title in May.
However, after facing all three promoted teams and facing two of last season's top four at home, question marks have been left over Mikel Arteta's side's realistic chances of winning the Premier League for the first time since 2004. Sunday's crunch London Derby against Chelsea (12pm) provides the Gunners with their first tough fixture on the road of the season.
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Merson has insisted the Gunners should not 'lose sight' of achieving a top four finish and highlighted the importance of avoiding defeat at Stamford Bridge. Talking on Sky Sports Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday, he said: "I still think there's a lot to do, I really do. There's a long way to go.
"We've seen performances in the last couple of weeks at Southampton and Leeds, I know they got four points out of them two games, but they could have got none.
"The fixtures have been quite kind, the way that they've spread out. If you look at the fixtures, it hasn't been back-to-back real hard games. You just reeled off Chelsea [fixtures] then and they've got Arsenal at home, Man City in the cup and Newcastle - all flying.
"Arsenal haven't had that. When they played Liverpool, the were struggling at the time and played Tottenham at home where you'd rather play them at home rather than away. They've done what they've had to do.
"You see with Liverpool last year, they lost the league by one point on the last day of the season. They didn't beat Chelsea, Man City or Tottenham, they beat all of the over teams. Arsenal are doing that and that's what they've [beat the big teams] got to do.
"They've got to make sure they don't lose tomorrow. They shouldn't lose sight of getting themselves into the top four. Don't start thinking about the league title at the moment, just keep on chipping away."
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