Arsenal were “as bad as it gets” as they beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground over the weekend, according to Paul Merson.

The Gunners have dropped points just once in their opening seven Premier League matches of the season, when they lost 3-0 to Brighton before the international break.

Arsenal are three points adrift of leaders Manchester City, who have maintained a perfect record so far this season, although the Citizens could yet face a points deduction after being found guilty of 114 of 115 charges following accusations of breaching the Premier League’s financial fair play rules.

A Noni Madueke goal ten minutes from time gave Arsenal all three points against Nottingham Forest on Sunday but Merson was not happy with how his former side performed.

Merson told Sky Sports: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game where a team has that much possession and still doesn’t look like scoring a goal in a month of Sundays. It was as bad as it gets.

“It’s unbelievable how you can have that much of the ball and not look like scoring. I used to watch Arsene Wenger’s teams and they would have 30 shots from that amount of play.

“Other teams have seen the blueprint to play against Arsenal: sit back and defend. It’s not hard. It’s not like they’re going to make 20, 30 chances. The wingers don’t go past anybody. No one runs beyond the ball. The ball isn’t being held up. There’s no real movement.

“I was blown away watching their performance against Forest. I know they won by not playing well, and that’s a great sign, but at the same time I thought the shackles would be off this season and they would really start playing. Bruno Guimaraes has got to play in every game. He’s the one who can pass the ball.”

Eberechi Eze has been largely ineffective for Arsenal this season and Merson is now concerned that he won’t make it as a Gunners player in the long term.

Merson added: “I’ve played for big teams and I’ve played for teams that weren’t big – it’s a different game. Eberechi Eze is a prime example. It’s so, so different.

“He was substituted at half-time against Forest, but if he played like that for Crystal Palace, he would still be on the pitch.

“You’ve got to perform at Arsenal. You’ve got to play in a shape. You can’t just play your own game. You can’t be a free spirit at big clubs anymore.

“At Palace, the team talk is ‘give the ball to Eze, everything goes through him and then we’ll work from there’. You go to Arsenal, there are four of them. Give the ball to Bruno. Give the ball to Bukayo Saka. Give the ball to Martin Odegaard. Give the ball to Declan Rice.

“At Arsenal, he gets on the ball, and he’s got to make things happen in the 25, 30 times he’s touched the ball instead of the 100 times he touches the ball at Palace.

“I’ve seen him try to nutmeg people on the edge of his own box at Crystal Palace and lose the ball, but it’s alright. That’s no disrespect to Palace, but it’s just different playing for a big team.

“The pressure is on week in, week out at Arsenal. They can win at Forest and they’ll still get criticised by people like me. That’s the difference.

“I remember Aston Villa away last year. Eze falls asleep at the far post, Matty Cash scores and he gets subbed at half-time. He started only one league game in the next two months.

“The lad can play. He’s a lovely player, but I don’t know if he’ll be lovely for Arsenal. I don’t know if he’ll get the chance because as soon as he doesn’t do well, he’s off.

“Arsenal have too many players on the bench, so it’s easy to take him off. That’s the problem.”