Arsenal only played great football when the pressure was off last season, says Paul Merson

 

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Time to challenge: Paul Merson thinks Arsenal need to compete for the Premier League title next season
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Vaishali Bhardwaj23 June 2015

Paul Merson has criticised his former side Arsenal for only playing "great football when the pressure was off" last season.

Arsene Wenger's side ended the 2014-15 Premier League campaign in third place, 12 points behind winners Chelsea and four behind second-placed Manchester City, after suffering a slow start to the season.

However, the north Londoners qualified for an automatic Champions League place and retained their FA Cup title with a 4-0 win over Aston Villa in May.

But despite winning silverware last term, Merson has accused the Gunners - who have not lifted the Premier League trophy since 2004 - of failing to be consistent throughout the season.

"When they moved stadium, I knew the purse strings were tight," Merson told The Sport Review.

"They had to get back in order and get the stadium paid for. To stay in the Champions League so consistently that long is great.

"But that’s gone now. They need to be challenging. They didn’t challenge last season – not once.

"Everybody said they played great football, but they played great football when the pressure was off.

"They need to be playing big games under pressure, not when it is all over."

Arsene Wenger is set to strengthen his squad ahead of the 2015-16 Premier League campaign, with Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech believed to be on the brink of signing for the Gunners.

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Should the 33-year-old make the move to the Emirates Stadium this summer, the goalkeeper is likely to play his first Premier League game in an Arsenal shirt when the club open the new season with a home game against West Ham on August 8.

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