Paul Merson insists that Arsenal “look unbeatable” on current form as Mikel Arteta’s side beat Burnley 2-0 to cement their place at the top of the table.
Arsenal moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday, although second-placed Bournemouth could close the gap when they face Manchester City on Sunday, after overcoming the newly-promoted Clarets to get the three points.
Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice put the Gunners two goals up within the first 35 minutes of the match to give Arsenal a comfortable victory at Turf Moor.
Merson was very impressed by their performance against the Clarets and insists Arsenal midfielder Rice in particular was “phenomenol” against Scott Parker’s side.
Merson said on Sky Sports: “At the moment, Arsenal look unbeatable.
“They defend so well. Apart from the free-kick that hit the post with the last kick, Burnley never looked like scoring.
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“Everything that comes into the box is cleared. They head everything and they have two defenders that want to defend, and two full backs that want to stop crosses.
“Then there’s Declan Rice. He wouldn’t have been far off a 10 out of 10 against Burnley. He just doesn’t stop all game. It was a phenomenal performance.
“My only worry for Arsenal is they looked a completely different side when Viktor Gyokeres was forced off. They were nowhere near the same team.
“Mikel Merino came on and he knitted the play together well but they never really got up the pitch and threatened in the second half.
“But right now they are a well-oiled machine with a lot of talent in that machine, and that is very unusual.
“They are an efficient machine but have so much talent. That is not a good cocktail for everyone else.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was very impressed by his side’s performance on the road as they made it nine wins in a row in all competitions.
It was their fifth win on the bounce in the Premier League and Arteta used “exceptional” twice to describe his side’s display against Burnley.
Arteta said: “The first half was exceptional, we scored two goals and gave nothing away, so that was the platform.
“We had to make a few changes and didn’t have that much control in the second half. Our defending was exceptional again, we didn’t give anything away.
“There is a reason they [Burnley] have lost one game [at home] in 18 months, and that was against Liverpool in the last second of the game.”