Paul Merson is expecting Arsenal to record a comfortable victory when they take on Brentford at the Emirates this afternoon.

The Bees won the reverse fixture earlier this season but Merson can’t see Thomas Frank’s team causing the Gunners too many problems, with the home side having the extra motivation of getting into the Champions League places:

“This is a big game [for Arsenal], as if they can win this one and go and beat Wolves, they’ve got a massive chance of securing a top-four finish in the Premier League. Brentford got a good result against Crystal Palace and did well to keep a clean sheet, but I don’t expect them to get anything out of this game.”

Merson has gone for a 3-0 win to Arsenal, which is a very confident prediction, especially considering Mikel Arteta’s men drew 0-0 to bottom side Burnley in their last home game.

The Clarets are probably stronger defensively than today’s opponents, though, with Brentford having also been in pretty poor form in recent months.

Their last win in the league came against Aston Villa at the start of January, and since then they have lost five of the six Premier League fixtures they have played, with their only point coming against Palace last time out. There are, therefore, good reasons why the Gunners are favourites to secure the three points today.