Before the game against Napoli, there was so many that thought we could be dumped out of the Europa League because of our abysmal away form and I must admit, I was one them.
I actually predicted that we would progress but I was far from certain but the lads showed last night that we really had nothing to worry about.
You see, the thing is this, streaks have a starting point and they also have an endpoint and I am now of the opinion that our poor away streak is truly at an end, and it could not have come at a better time.
The win over Watford was lucky and there is no point kidding ourselves it was not, but the win over Napoli was not lucky, it was a professional performance against a top Italian team in their own backyard and that cannot be underplayed.
Napoli knew they had to win by at least two clear goals without conceding and they had a proper go. The Italians had 70% of the possession, they had 20 shots to our seven and nine corners to our five and still did not get past Cech, in fact, we reduced them to just two shots on target compared to our four on target.
Those statistics do not lie and the reason that we overcame such dominance was that our defence stood tall, our midfield battled like lions and the forward line was lead impressively by the irresistible Lacazette. Unai Emery got the team selection right and he got the tactics right it is as simple as that.
This was more than a win it was a message to our rivals, it tells them that they can no longer rely on us giving up points on the road, and that we have proven that when the pressure is on that we will be strong, we will not flag and we will not succumb.
I am now far more confident about our upcoming away games and that is what the win over Napoli has achieved, a sense of optimism that was wavering, not no more.
Martin