Today’s big news is that Torreira returns for Arsenal alongside Ramsey in midfield, and Koscielny proves his fitness for this crunch home tie.
The Gunners come into the match on the back of seven straight wins at the Emirates stadium, and it would be an understatement to say that we need to make sure we get a positive result here today.
With our hopes of a top four finish having taken a painful turn at the weekend, we cannot afford to let ourselves become despondent of making it into the Champions League via the Europa League, as well as remaining in the hunt for the trophy of course.
With a big performance needed, it is refreshing to see such a strong side named in our newly favoured 3-4-3 formation, and I cant help but be excited by the line-up….
? Here is our team news for tonight’s match…
? @6_LKOSCIELNY returns from injury
? @Aubameyang7 and @LacazetteAlex both start
? @MesutOzil1088 also in starting XI
? @AaronRamsey partners @LTorreira34 in midfield? #UEL
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) April 11, 2019
It’s quite strange to think that the only player I may have left out would be Mesut Ozil, who many name as our most creative player, but I think this team has more than enough balance to accommodate him, even if he was at his worst.
I would be very shocked to see this game end up 0-0, but more importantly, this team line-up has a win all over it. Whether we will put enough daylight between us to coast us through a tough away leg is up for debate, but I’m hoping for a 3-1 win.
Would you change any names in this line-up? Would Ozil have been a shoo-in for your chosen XI?
Pat J
For once am very okay with the lineup. This is now on the players hands. Emery has done his job
Very ok line up, would have put leno in goal instead considering the magnitude of this match and also cech haven’t play in a little while
What I don’t get about Emery is he obviously knows that this line up is a strong line so why does he hardly use it in the league. Is understandable to worry about injuries but this late in the season he should be taking all the chances needed for us to win.
So angry that Emery hasn’t picked his strongest team. Why on earth is our player of season on the bench? Leno is our best keeper!
What I love about Emery is that he hasn’t been afraid of making the big decisions. He picks his teams based on form, and opponent, but now he’s gone and done a “Wenger” and made a sentimental pick with Cech. I really thought we past all that? Emery better pray Cech doesn’t mess
up, and I cannot wait to see Cech with the ball at his feet…heart attack time!
Crush the Opponents Yo Gunners!
Arsenal 3:0 Non poli
Good line up. Just hope the wing backs are back to form after their awful displays against Everton.
No Mustafi. So we have a chance here everyone.
Koulibaly. He’s the one winning this game for Napoli
I’ve said it before it’s a shame Ramsey is leaving just as he Finally got a coach who favored his style of play. Wenger was slow constructive passing with low risk taking which is the opposite of Ramsey best qualities.
I know there is a lot of time remaining but imagine if he had this line up for the Everton game 🙁 I know some of the players were injured or suspended but are strikers were available. We chose to lose that game.
Ramsey was the game changer as we don’t have a player capable of replacing what he brings to this team. Don’t tell me AMN because he doesn’t have half the mental Quality despite his physical gifts.
Ramsey is a big game player!
That team is OP at home. If we fix that away form we can further improve in the league.
Kalidou Koulibaly is ? ?
Can anyone explain toreirra’s celebration? Don’t quite get the message there.
Yeah i was wondering what the hell he meant with that but I’m guessing he was thanking his former trainer for turning him into a cdm as he used to play in a more advanced position
Really enjoyed that 1st half,quality in the middle ,kola they can’t handle and ozil showing what he can do again .
Napoli have improved a lot in the last few minutes in the first half Arsenal have made a very bright start to the game i hope take advantage a move the ball faster to create more chances lest go Arsenal !!!
You look at Arsenal at home and you think “this team should be challenging for the league” then you see them away and it’s like “shouldn’t this team be languishing in mid table???”… the highs are so beautiful but the lows are as bad as they come, a team of extremes. #sigh being an Arsenal fan though
Leading because Arsenal never let Napoli to build their attack from the back, unlike when Arsenal allowed Everton’s defenders and GK distribute the ball freely
That’s why one striker alone is not enough to pressurize the opposition’s defenders. I hope they keep using two forwards when playing in Watford
Having said that, the passes and first touches are still not in par with Barcelona’s level. Watford could capitalize on the players’ shaky composure at away
That why we are not Barcelona, we have our own way.
That is why*
Our strikers are missing too many chances, hope this doesn’t come back to haunt us later. We need to put this game to bed.
Lacazette has been underperforming in several matches. Heavy first touches and got robbed a lot
Luckily he still has an assist to compensate for it
Santi scored for villareal!! Miss that fella
fans wanted him to retire last season
We are we inviting pressure ? We should keep attacking ,that is the best defense.
Toreira is like a new signing
Napoli have begun to dominate the wings with all those crosses and milk coming on. Emery responds by bringing on 2 wingers, that’s rapid tactical response that we missed in the past.
*milik
These missed chances will cost us in second leg.. Mark my words..
Second leg? I fear it may cost us in this game. There is still a lot of time. We need to score one more goal.
like I said Napoli have looked a lot more dangerous and Iwobi and MK dont give me a better passing so we have to kill the game now or we will have problems in Napoli 70:34
Matteo didn’t look happy about elneny going on instead of him ?
Our end of season report will read:
finishing to be improved
Team and coach low confidence in away games to be improved
Squad depth to be improved
They only have to beat us 3-0 next week. 1-0 if they score now.
at least 6 goals we missed to score tonight.. should have been easy 4 5 goals tonight and put this game out of equation for napoli in second leg
we didnt kill the game now we will be very sorry in Napoli another thing we didnt have any strikers we lost a lots of chances for a 5 -1 nothing is definitive difficult but not impossible ……
I’m happy with the winning but I’m not comfortable 2 goals lead to Napoli considering the number of chances we wasted and the quality of the opposition. We would have qualified today if we score 2 more goals and then can concentrate on epl. I’m so happy like I said for the win.
Napoli are a good side not a great side. They have shown they can be dangerous as the game got stretched in the last 20 minutes of the game. If we play anywhere near the level we played tonight we should be ok