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For the most part we produced yet another first class defensive display and Napoli had very little answer. Laurent Koscielny was superb once again. I had been thinking for a large chunk of the game that if Higuain does not score then what does he do for the team? He was invisible until late in the second half he spun and shot past Szczesny. Higuain is quite the opposite of Giroud. Giroud rarely scores from half chances but gives so much during the course of 90 minutes. Higuain will do nothing of note but pop up in the right place to drag a shot past the keeper and into the corner of the net. The goal was followed by the Arteta sending off and we were against it. The late Dortmund goal had pushed us into second place. Napoli's late second was nothing more than a consolation.

A deal that seemed almost certain to go through was the transfer of the affable Harry Kewell from Leeds. He seemed the perfect fit for us at the time, quick, technically gifted and could play as an attacking midfielder or striker. He had one year left on his contract and had been making sexy eyes at Arsene and the club for a number of months. I was bitterly disappointed when he signed for Liverpool; news that Liverpool paid a fee of £5 million with £2 million going to Kewell himself demonstrated that Arsenal didn’t feel the amount touted was acceptable. In addition he was on a reported 5 year deal at £60,000 a week which would have been near the top end of our budget. In hindsight, it looks like we dodged a bullet. Kewell never emulated the form or class he portrayed at Leeds

Arsene Wenger was able to name a very strong bench and it was the manager's bold use of a triple substitution that gave Arsenal that extra impetus when the game was deadlocked. Ramsey, Cazorla and Wilshere were all withdrawn at the same time and replaced by Flamini, Rosicky and Walcott. The fact that the latter two combined for that opening goal just shows how effective the changes were. It's something of a testament to Wenger

Arsenal’s second goal came in the second half and displayed all the hallmarks of team taking their position at the top of the league rather seriously. The excellent Nacho Monreal stretched to prevent the ball going out of play on the left hand side before feeding Ozil. The German, with the assistance of Aaron Ramsey, then weaved a tapestry through the Hull defence with an excellent 1-2 that culminated in him calmly slotting the ball past a helpless Alan McGregor. The interchange between the two midfielders was as impressive as anything you are likely to see in Europe and the delicious reverse return pass from Ramsey is just another example to add to the growing list of wonderful things he has done this season