Paul Merson: Mikel Arteta says Chelsea are the best attacking team in the Premier League? He must be joking!

Mikel Arteta said Chelsea are the best attacking team in the Premier League after Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over them on Sunday. I don’t know what I’m missing.

When Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer are playing, they’re a good team. They bring the best out of each other. Palmer’s a better player when Jackson’s playing and Jackson’s a better player when Palmer’s playing. That is fact.

But I’m flabbergasted by that quote. I honestly don’t get that. There will be a lot of Chelsea fans reading that thinking, ‘Wow! What is he talking about?’.

What Mikel Arteta said about Chelsea…

“We continue to do a lot of things defensively so well that earn us the right to attack open spaces and but there were so many situations, huge advantages that we just gave away.

“So we have to track back 70m and on that face, we were one of the best teams in the world today because we were unbelievable in the way we’ve done it. We haven’t conceded almost [anything] apart from the strange save from David (Raya).

“In my opinion, they’re the best attacking team in the league. By a mile. The stats say it, everything I’ve seen says it in open play.

“They can open you, they can run in transitions, they have individual quality, any player in the defensive line can threaten inside. They can combine on both sides, their weaker sides, they are missing some big players at the moment.”

Is Arteta saying that because Chelsea have spent £1.6bn yet haven’t got a forward and can’t score a goal and fans are moaning at him because Arsenal don’t have a forward? Unless Palmer plays, I don’t think Chelsea score goals.

Everybody can be an attacking and free-flowing team but you’ve got to get it right at both ends. They’ve scored 53 goals and let in 37.

They bought enough players and they’ve got others out on loan. They didn’t have to send them out. Moaning about injuries but they’ve got players out on loan who would play in the first team.

That’s come back to bite them because they’re juggling after buying every Tom, Dick and Harry. I can’t really feel sorry for Chelsea in that way.

I still think Enzo Maresca is changing his wingers too often. They need to get a better run in the team.

You don’t know who is going to play at centre-back and who is playing on the wing. He changes every week and I just don’t think that helps.

Christopher Nkunku’s position is not on the wing. I feel sorry for him. I like him, I think he’s a good player. He’s one that plays behind the centre-forward.

He’s an intelligent footballer, connects things, but the problem is Palmer’s been outstanding. I don’t think Chelsea were foreseeing Palmer being as good as what he was hence why they bought Nkunku for a lot of money.

But Chelsea are the best attacking team? They scored one goal against Leicester to win 1-0. Leicester, in their previous 20 matches, had only failed once to let in two or more goals in a Premier League game.

I’m not buying into that one. I’m not buying in.