Arsenal merged victorious in their meeting with Napoli at the Emirates Stadium last night…
Arsenal being tremendous at home and lacklustre away from home is nothing new. That said, it’s important that fans (myself included) don’t overreact to the Napoli result. Actually, scrap that, every fan is going to overreact.
In case you didn’t know, Arsenal took on Napoli at home last night. It was their first leg of two. The Gunners played some incredible football and the scoreline finished 2-0, although it could have been much more. However, you could also argue that Napoli was unlucky not to score since there were a few opportunities for them on the counter-attack.
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This result, despite only being halfway, got me seriously excited for the rest of the campaign. As Mesut Ozil said on Twitter, there’s still a long way to go. However, if Arsenal manages to score a goal in Naples then I have no doubt in my mind they will go through. It’s unlikely that Unai Emery’s men will keep a clean sheet so the away goal will do them a new world of good.
We got what we wanted. A good result in the 1st leg ⚽👍🏼 But still a long way to go next week... ! #YaGunnersYa ♥ #COYG #M1Ö #UEL pic.twitter.com/DAKOYrn8iA
— Mesut Özil (@M10) April 11, 2019
Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring, courtesy of a fine ‘Emery-ball’ type attack. He passed it into the far corner with great aplomb following some nice passing movements. Then Lucas Torreira was lucky enough to obtain a deflected goal, getting back into the tremendous form he showed earlier in the season.
Unai Emery could be the man to lead Arsenal to European success. I mean, in the Europa League, is there really a man better for the job? He won the competition in three consecutive seasons with Sevilla, granting himself a place in the history books of the Europa League.
Should Arsenal defeat Napoli in this tie, then the three remaining powerhouses will be (presumably) Chelsea, Valencia and Benfica. Neither of these should sweat Arsenal – yep, that’s right, even Chelsea. Unai Emery has Maurizio Sarri’s number, this was demonstrated last night since Sarri laid a lot of fundaments for that Napoli team. Emery also has plenty of experience facing Valencia so this should be no issue either, and Benfica mustn’t be underestimated but Arsenal would be clear favourites if they needed to face them.
Do you think Arsenal can win the Europa League?