Gunners go through...........just!!

Napoli 2-0 Arsenal

Arsenal came close to throwing away all their previous hard work in the Champions League group of death, with a second half display against Napoli, they will want to quickly forget.

The Gunners came into the game knowing that any result other than a three goal defeat would guarantee their place in the last 16 of the competition. This appeared to be a fairly straightforward task especially when taking into account Arsenal’s excellent performances in the Champions League this season. However those who have supported North London’s finest for a number of years, know all too well that with the Gunners, nothing is ever straight forward.

Arsenal actually played very well in the first half, significantly restricting the home side’s threat on goal and frustrating the crowd, as boos rained down from the stands. The Gunners were defensively solid during the first period, with Per Mertesacker and Lauren Koscielny continuing their excellent form while just ahead of them, the central midfield paring of Flamini and Arteta worked hard to shield the back four and break up Napoli’s attacks. As a result, despite Rafa Benitez’s side desperately needing an early goal, Szczesny had very little to do and in fact Arsenal had the best chance to open the scoring in the 23^rd minute of the game. Giroud suddenly found space on the edge of the Napoli penalty area, but his shot across goal was saved by the goalkeeper. The rebound fell straight to the feet of Ozil who seemed well positioned to fire on goal, but lost his balance at the crucial moment and could only skew his shot wide. Nevertheless, this was still a promising sign from Arsenal. Although they had clearly adopted a safety first approach to this game, this attacking move had indicated that should they need to, the Gunners could move up through the gears, apply their superior passing ability and open up the Napoli defence.

As the half time whistle approached, it appeared as though Arsenal were fully in control of proceedings and qualification was assured. However just before the clock hit 45 minutes, Szczesny almost allowed the home side a cheap way into the game through an attempted chipped pass which smacked of complacency. Rather than reach its intended target, the ball hit Higuain on the head and luckily for the Polish goalkeeper, flew wide of goal.

Yet although they had escaped with their goal still intact, this moment was a precursor to what would unfold during the second half. Although Arsenal started the second half well, their bright start soon faded and Napoli were quickly on top, appearing far more menacing than they had done during the previous 135 minutes played between the two sides. Most of the home side’s attacks were emanating from the Gunners right flank as Napoli sought to isolate and double up on Jenkinson, with Benitez introducing the excellent Insigne to attack the young Englishman. First, Pablo Armero raced onto a flick on but tamely shot straight at Szczesny to the annoyance of his teammates who were better placed in the middle of the area.

Then in the 74^th minute, Napoli made the breakthrough, as Armero raced down the left flank once more and crossed the ball into Higuain. The Argentine played a one-two with Callejon, before turning beautifully to create space for himself, taking Mertesacker out of the game in the same movement and firing into the bottom corner of the goal. It was a truly world class piece of play from the man who Wenger had tried so hard to sign during the summer transfer window.

Although the goal had of course roused the home support, whom Arsenal had previously kept relatively quiet, the Gunners were still firmly in control of their destiny. Two minutes after Higuain’s goal however and the Gunners worst nightmares appeared to be coming true as Mikel Arteta received his marching orders for a second yellow card. It was an extremely harsh decision from the referee as the Spaniard had only committed two fouls all game, but having already received a yellow card Arteta should have held back from the second challenge and not given the referee the opportunity to send him off.

Down to ten men for the last fourteen minutes it was going to be backs to the wall stuff until the sweet release of the final whistle. However, with Dortmund still drawing 1-1 away to Marseille, Napoli were at this point going through along with Arsenal and as a result they inexplicably rested on the laurels and dropped their intensity significantly. The game was therefore allowed to peter out and when news arrived that Dortmund had taken the lead against Marseille with only four minutes left, Napoli seemed to have committed a grave error of judgement.

The Gunners managed to see out those last few minutes, but with only 30 seconds left, they switched off, allowing Callejon to chip Szczesny for Napoli’s second of the evening. Fortunately for Arsenal, the referee blew for full time immediately after the restart and they therefore managed to progress to the last 16 of the competition for the 14^th consecutive season.

After the game, Arsene Wenger declared that his team had been caught in between attack and defence and as a result their performance left much to be desired. The manager will now have to rouse his troops for the extremely difficult game away to Manchester City, who were able to rest key players during the week having already qualified from their Champions League group. The likes of Wilshere, Ramsey and Walcott, who were all rested last night, should come into the starting line up on Saturday to refresh the team. The Gunners essentially got away with a poor performance in the second half last night, but will have to perform extremely well for the entire 90 minutes against Manchester City if they are to come away with a positive result.