Paul Merson has, surprise surprise, backed his beloved Chelsea to beat Arsenal on Saturday.

The former Gunner (although you wouldn’t know it) thinks the Blues’ tactics against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League were spot on and that Arsene Wenger was ‘naive’ against Dinamo Zagreb.

“I have to go with Chelsea,” he said. “Their record against Arsenal is fantastic, they just don’t lose to them.

“I know Arsenal won in the Community Shield, but that was a bigger game for Arsenal than it was for Chelsea.

“Chelsea made changes in the Champions League, but they had a home game. Arsenal got it horribly wrong. Playing away you cannot make six changes.”

Merson added, “It was very naive of Arsene Wenger. You have to get off to a positive start, especially with Bayern Munich in the group.

“After what happened in midweek, it has swung all the pressure onto Arsenal, not Chelsea.”

Merson is partially right. Arsenal were naive against Zagreb. However, he’s putting a little too much stock in Chelsea’s 4-0 win on their turf against a team who, with all due respect, are happy just to be in the Champions League.

We’re talking about Chelsea here. The team who won the Champions League only three years ago and who stormed the Premier League just last season, winning by eight points.

The fact that Merson, a self-proclaimed Chelsea fan, is hailing this victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv as if the Blues have just gone to the Bernabéu and wiped the pitch with Ronaldo’s entrails, shows just how poorly they’ve been doing this season. I’m not sure he has reason to be so confident.