‘Who are you?’ Three words fans chanted at a slightly stunned looking Napoli side as they went two-nil down in less than 20 minutes. It was a fairly apt question, because Benitez’s team were made to look fairly ordinary. 
Apparently Arsenal lack a top quality striker.  Yet the ball keeps on finding the back of the net with Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil sharing two devastating goals during Tuesday’s performance. 
At the heart of everything was the offensive axis of Ozil, Rosicky and Ramsey backed up by a hardworking and conscientious DM duo of Matthieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta. The latter got stamped on for his troubles in the second half.

This performance was a fairly good impression of the Invincibles with a dash of tiki-taka, and two goals reminiscent of Bergkamp, Henry or Pires or Kanu at their peak.
The naysayers said Arsenal had no depth. Well somebody better tell the current crop of uninjured Gunners who seem to enjoy winning, because they look (and played) like they couldn’t care less. “Let’s judge Arsenal when they have played a top side”, said various mouthy pundits and so called fans who once called for Wenger’s head and the sale of Ramsey. 

Well on Tuesday night they did play a top side, and they dismantled them without going into top gear. There was a relaxed nonchalance about their play underlined by a high percentage of possession and pass completion rates. It was almost as if Arsenal had extra men on the pitch. On the few occasions when they ball was lost, everyone seemed to get behind it, determined to get it back, which they did for most of the night.
This was an Arsenal side without Walcott, Podolski, Chamberlain, Cazorla and Diaby to bolster the attacking ranks. They dismissed a quality Italian unit currently unbeaten in Serie A. Wenger must be thoroughly pleased thus far considering the criticism that followed that first home match against Villa.

‘Who are you?’ Three words fans chanted at a slightly stunned looking Napoli side as they went two-nil down in less than 20 minutes. It was a fairly apt question, because Benitez’s team were made to look fairly ordinary. 
Apparently Arsenal lack a top quality striker.  Yet the ball keeps on finding the back of the net with Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil sharing two devastating goals during Tuesday’s performance. 
At the heart of everything was the offensive axis of Ozil, Rosicky and Ramsey backed up by a hardworking and conscientious DM duo of Matthieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta. The latter got stamped on for his troubles in the second half.

Ramsey and the Gunner Galactico interchanged effectively, switching flanks at will and tormenting Napoli’s fullbacks and defenders. And what was the highlight of the night? – Ramsey Cruyff-turning Gokhan Inler, who is hardly a slouch on the pitch.  Inler’s mild humiliation in the 31st minute just about summed up a fruitless night for the Neopolitans.

Unfortunately for them Arsenal’s back four and goalkeeper were untroubled by their few attempts on goal and they contributed effectively to Gunners’ build-up play.

Ozil aside – some of the most impressive performances on the night came from Ramsey, Giroud, Gibbs, Arteta, Mertesacker, Sagna and the largely unbothered Sczesney. The goalkeeper commanded his area effectively on the few occasions Napoli had corners and free-kicks. And what more can be said about Ramsey – with his gut-busting box-to-box performances, topped off by his willingness to take the ball to the wing and bomb down  it in the first half, cut-in and play a neat pass back to Ozil for his first goal at the Emirates. If Bale is worth £84million, the Caerphilly-born Welshman must be well past the hundred-mark on current form.  It’s almost as if he is attempting to become a Parlour-Fabregas-Vieira hybrid with exceptional lung capacity.

Possession Passing Panache

Arsenal’s relaxed yet incisive passing gave them the look of a team playing an exhibition match.  UEFA statistics on pass completion rates for players were impressive. Wenger’s men completed 561 passes throughout the match in comparison to Napoli’s 336. Arteta had the highest ratio of completed passes standing at 99 per cent. Ozil was not far behind on 87 per cent
Gunners also enjoyed the bulk of ball retention maintaining possession at a rate of 63 per cent, compared to 37 per cent ‘enjoyed’ by Napoli.

Any regrets?

In his post-match interview Wenger described the team’s performance as ‘handbrakeish’. Perhaps this is best reflected by the goal tally. Arsenal could certainly have scored more as Napoli were thoroughly beaten and deserved to go at least four-nil down rather than two. However this Arsenal team is displaying more defensive discipline than previous sides in recent years coupled with a willingness to consolidate, defend and to absorb and repel opposition attacks. This was a top performance capped by a couple of worldy goals. I wonder if RVP was watching last night’s game?

Follow me on Twitter