‘Could get messy’… Paul Merson thinks 22-year-old Arsenal player will destroy Newcastle on Saturday

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Pundit Paul Merson has now made a rather bold prediction regarding Newcastle United’s trip to Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Whilst Mikel Arteta’s side have been quite outstanding in the Premier League of late, they suffered at the hands of FC Porto last night.

Arsenal conceded very late in the game, and all of their positive momentum may have halted momentarily.

That being said, Eddie Howe’s Newcastle do arrive at the Emirates in reasonable form, having recovered from a tough festive period.

Newcastle are now unbeaten in four, and despite recording impressive away wins at both Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, they’ve then been frustrated at home against Luton Town and Bournemouth.

However, when considering Newcastle’s form ahead of this trip to Arsenal, Paul Merson was mostly focused on the goals the visitors have been conceding.

Providing his prediction for Sportskeeda, Merson thought Newcastle were in trouble on Saturday and that Bukayo Saka could have a field day.

Merson didn’t think Arsenal’s loss in Portugal would slow them down, and predicted a flurry of goals.

Paul Merson thinks Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka will run riot against Newcastle

Merson seemed extremely confident Arsenal would win, and appeared to send a warning to Eddie Howe.

He said: “I don’t think their European setback will affect Arsenal this weekend. Newcastle have been inconsistent recently but have managed to remain unbeaten in their last five matches.

“They’re scoring goals, but they’re conceding far too many goals as well. They cannot go to Arsenal this weekend and defend like that – they’ll get destroyed.

“Newcastle’s defence is struggling at the moment, but they don’t have much to play for. I like watching them play because they open games up, but they don’t want to do that against Arsenal – it could get messy.

“Bukayo Saka could have a field day in this fixture, and I expect Arsenal to win this game comfortably.”

Of course, having felt the frustration in Portugal last night, some Arsenal fans may not be as confident as Merson of seeing Newcastle off so easily.

The two sides have had some memorable encounters in the past couple of seasons – Newcastle’s 1-0 win at St. James’ Park was embroiled in controversy earlier this season.

And with all that said, one Arsenal player should be raring to go again on Saturday, having proved how underrated he’s become last night.