Ex-Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson is concerned that playing behind closed doors will negatively impact the performances of some players.

The Sky Sports pundit used the example of David Luiz who had a difficult game in the 3-2 defeat to Championship side Brentford at the Emirates on Wednesday:

“I saw one of the goals against Brentford and David Luiz tried to play up and flick it over his shoulder and over the lad’s head, and that’s not being honest.”

“The fans keep you honest and I think with Arsenal it’s going to be a little bit of a problem defensively because I think they will switch off.”

“Behind closed doors, no crowd, I think they’ll switch off and there will be mistake after mistake and I think it will be a problem for Arsenal.”

Of course, in Luiz’s case, we all know that he wouldn’t be afraid of producing a trick even in front of a crowd, but Merson does have a point.

Supporters do hold players to account and in their absence, the lack of pressure from the stands may lead to a few more errors.

Whether that will happen in reality, we shall have to wait and see. We may find that certain players perform better without the influence of a crowd.

A friendly game won’t tell us too much, though, and it will be interesting to find out how Arsenal’s stars cope when they play their first competitive game against Manchester City next week.