Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has delivered his painfully honest assessment of the north London rivalry right now.

Spurs beat Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley on Saturday lunchtime to go seven points clear of Arsene Wenger's side.

The Gunners finished above Spurs in the Premier League table for 21 seasons in a row - but their steady decline over the last 10 years finally saw Spurs finish above them last season.

Mauricio Pochettino's side appear highly likely to finish above Arsenal once again - and could yet go far in the Champions League after recovering from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Juventus in Turin.

"We could have done [capitulated], away from home in the Champions League. It showed character," Harry Kane said.

"It was an excellent performance after that and we take two away goals to Wembley. Great result.

Merson compares Arsenal players to Tottenham's

The 49-year-old pundit - who spent 13 years as an Arsenal player - delivered an inconvenient truth about Arsenal's current state.

“The thing that surprises me with Arsenal is that you look at their team and there aren’t many that would get in all the other teams,” Merson told Sky Sports’ The Debate on Thursday night.

“The goalie, the whole of the back four, Xhaka and Elneny wouldn’t get in.

“They wouldn’t get in anyone else’s team in the top five. Nobody would take any of them. That is the worry.”

Merson compared Arsenal with their north London rivals, claiming that several Spurs stars could join any other Premier League side.

“With Tottenham, you could reel off a lot of players who, if they all went up for sale tomorrow, the big boys would snap them up,” he added.

“Arsenal have got lost a bit.

“We point the finger at Arsene [Wenger] but the players aren’t good enough.”

He's absolutely right - Mesut Ozil is probably the only player at Arsenal who would be good enough to be a starter at any of the five clubs above them.

Would anyone disagree? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.