Paul Merson makes Man City vs Man United point Arsenal won't want to hear

Latest Arsenal news as Paul Merson raises a point about the Gunners after Manchester United beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday

Paul Merson was left exasperated at Manchester City's performance against Manchester United in the FA Cup after they denied Arsenal the Premier League title.

Pep Guardiola's side suffered a shock 2-1 loss to their city rivals at Wembley on Saturday when most observers had picked the Sky Blues to triumph. Goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo secured a 13th FA Cup win for United, putting them just one behind the Gunners' record.

City's defeat came almost a week after they beat West Ham 3-1 on the final day of the Premier League season, which wrapped up a record fourth consecutive league title. It was a painful afternoon for Mikel Arteta's side who beat Everton on the same day but were denied a first league title since 2004 by just three points.

And former Gunners star Merson has offered his thoughts on the action at Wembley, expressing disappointment that Guardiola's team could not have played as poorly as they did on Saturday during the title run-in. He also admitted to getting it wrong with his pre-match precision of a comfortable City win.

"Fair play Man United," he said in a video on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Every Arsenal fan must be sitting there thinking 'why couldn't Man City just have had one of those 45 minutes for one of the last 15 games of the season' which sometimes just isn't meant to be.

"But I just want to say fair play to Man United. I got it horribly wrong but I don't care how hardened a Man United fan you are, you cannot tell me you were travelling down yesterday expecting to beat Man City. But fair play."

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