Merson warns Arteta about 'unplayable' Chelsea star who could end Arsenal streak

Paul Merson has identified one Chelsea player in particular who could cause Arsenal problems when the two sides meet after the international break. Mauricio Pochettino will welcome the Gunners to Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, October 21, in what is expected to be a fiery London derby.

In a column for Sky Sports, the former Arsenal midfielder claimed that the Blues are better against stronger opposition and 'can beat anybody' on their day. Mikel Arteta's side have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign, dropping points in draws with only Tottenham and Fulham.

"They will have a go at Chelsea, so it will be interesting," said Merson. "But against the better teams, like Liverpool who had a right go, those are the games they have played well in this season.

"So it will be interesting but, where Chelsea are in the league, teams will not want to play them as, on their day, they can beat anybody and when Raheem Sterling is playing like he did at Burnley, then he is unplayable."

Chelsea head into the clash against the Gunners this weekend off the back of an impressive 4-1 win against Burnley. While the west Londoners snatched three-points from Vincent Kompany's newly-promoted side, Arsenal stormed past the reigning champions Manchester City.

And, Merson believes that his former side will have been given a major boost to their hopes of winning the Premier League – let alone at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The 55-year-old said: "To win having gone that long without beating Man City is a massive result as it gives Arsenal that belief they can go on and win the Premier League now.The important thing was not losing the game after the results the week before. A couple of weeks ago you were thinking, 'if Man City win at Arsenal, they are going to go seven points clear of them and that is the end of it for Arsenal'.

"Now all of a sudden they have beaten them and that will give them so much confidence - if they had beaten them just once last year, they would have gone on to win the league. So that is how big it is."

Chelsea will have to be at their very best to break Arsenal down. While the Blues are in for a difficult fixture, they can certainly draw confidence from the potential return of club captain Reece James, who's been nursing a knock since the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.