So, Arsenal win their second game on the bounce 1-0 away from home, that is two clean sheets and unlike the first of those wins over Watford in the Premier League, this one over Napoli was impressive.
The tie was basically settled in the 36th minute following a beautifully taken free kick from Alexandre Lacazette. From that point onwrads, Napoli had a huge task ahead of them and they never looked like getting the four goals they would have needed to progress to the semi-finals.
The defence stood strong, the entire unit was organised and coped with everything their opponents threw at them. The midfield battled for every ball in the midfield and Lacazette, complimented by Aubameyang, did a great job up front.
All in all, it was a great performance from a team that has been much maligned for it’s poor away record this season.
Player Ratings
Petr Cech – 7
The pivotal moment was his great stop from Jose Callejon and he has more than justified his inclusion at the expense of Bernd Leno in this competition.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 8
What a good game the youngster had, he defended when necessary and flew down the wings whenever he was given the opportunity. One of his best games this season.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos – 8
Showed his class last night despite being under immense pressure and showed that he can be calm and decisive when required and was not afraid to get stuck in.
Laurent Koscielny – 8
Put in a solid performance and showed leadership throughout. Cricual tackles and effective clearances became the norm as the game went on.
Nacho Monreal – 7
Nacho had a good game and is a definite upgrade on Mustafi. His performance was not spectacular but he did what he had to do and for the most part, did it effectively.
Sead Kolasinac – 6
Was a bit rash on occasions and did give the ball away a couple of times but he can be forgiven for the very minor lapses he incurred.
Lucas Torreira – 7
Did what he had to do under trying circumstances, I have seen him play better but he wound up the opponents and that in itself was enough.
Granit Xhaka – 7
A quiet game really but like Torreira he did what he had to do and put in a workhorse performance
Aaron Ramsey – 5
Difficult to give a true rating as he was not on the field long enough though I must admit the little I did see of him last night was slightly below his best.
Alexandre Lacazette – 9
The match winner and much more, he settled the game and was a thorn in the side of the Napoli defence throughout the evening.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 5
Not his best game, too often he lost the ball and how he missed from four yards out I do not know.
Subs
Henrik Mkhitaryan – 4
His inconsistency was on display again last night and I expected more and not for the first time this season. He could have done better and simply did not.
Mohamed Elneny – 5
An average performance overall but cannot criticise too much basically, he did his job.
Alex Iwobi – 5
Not on long enough to really make an impact and did what was required of him.