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.

I haven’t had much of a chance to jot down any thoughts on the Napoli game. To be honest I have had to pretty much switch off from all Arsenal news since Wednesday due to other commitments.

So I thought I’d try a little review/preview combination and kill two birds with one stone. I promise to keep the Napoli talk short as it’s all but consigned to history now.

Napoli Post Match Thoughts

Line Up:

I like many were surprised at the exclusion of Theo Walcott. Not only because of his speed being a wonderful defence against a team that needed to push for victory but also because Theo Walcott hasn’t had the games in his legs that others have had. Arsene has since explained that Walcott has not been up to full power since returning from injury.

I found it interesting that we played two attack minded midfielders in Mesut Özil and Santi Cazorla yet did not really go for Napoli. Given the score line, going for the away team wasn’t necessary. The tempo of the game from the kick off was extremely high. Higher than the standard Premier League game.

Napoli flew out of the traps and didn’t give us any space to play. I thought we had stood up to it very well and gave as much as we got.

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.

I wanted us to finish top but as it is, I’d take a difficult draw and see how we get on. If we go out then playing once a week rather than two will be a huge physical bonus for our squad if we are to maintain a title challenge, if we were to win our CL draw then that will be a big psychological boost. I’m happy to flip the footballing coin on that one.

Manchester City Match Thoughts & Predicted Line Up

Currently our fixture today is the most difficult fixture of the Premier League this season such is Manchester City’s form at the Etihad this campaign. I am more interested in how we approach the game rather than which of our players start. We will need to be strong defensively but I hope we are not too focused on keeping them out. We haven’t seen the best of our attacking game for a few weeks now, often we haven’t needed to as playing in attacking bursts while defending as a team has seen us win most of our games.

Maybe it would be football suicide as our players are not the freshest but wouldn’t it be good to see us approach the game the way Everton approached us last week. Stamp our authority on the game and play in their half rather than defending deep in numbers. That said, if a defensive performance ends with Arsenal having 30% possession and all three points then I’ll snatch that clean out of your hands.

Rumours are that Sagna, Monreal and Walcott will all start. You would imagine that both Ramsey and Wilshere who were rested in Italy will start also but then it is a question of who misses out. Given the minutes played you would say that Özil is prime target to sit out but I cannot imagine Arsene resting Özil for such an important game. If Walcott starts then Santi Cazorla will probably make way. Jack Wilshere can fill in the role of creative wide player with added tenacity which will be needed, especially if Navas plays on that right side for City.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

It is going to be a tough one, make no mistake about that. Not only have they blown away lesser sides like Tottenham Hotspurs but they have demolished the likes of Manchester United also in front of their own fans. We will probably have to put in our best performance of the season to come away with a result. We definitely have the players to do so but I have a horrible feeling that we are going to Manchester once more with just a little too much out of our tank. At the same time if we were to start with Sagna, Monreal, Ramsey, Wilshere and Walcott then that is half the team with players who did not start in midweek.

We need another big performance from Koscielny to stop the impressive Sergio Agüero. Flamini and Ramsey will have to put a lid on the powerful yet graceful Yaya Toure in midfield. Not to mention Silva, Nasri, Negredo and company. Speaking of company, the clash between Kompany and Giroud should be a good battle. There will be quality all over the pitch and great match ups which should make for a very exciting game of football.

An Arsenal victory would put us 9 points clear of today’s challengers, that is huge at this stage. I hope the players go out with nothing but belief in their ability. This is a chance to shove the doubts down the throats of the critics. You know they will be out in force if we do not produce this afternoon. I spoke last week about being robbed of our highest high, well here is a chance to get some of that back.

Roll ya sleeves up Gunners, let’s do this. The term making a statement is often used in football, here is one of those games where we can do just that. Victory would give us massive confidence and worry the rest of the Premier League.

COME ON THE ARSENAL! (Caps for extra effect)

Two things to say before I get myself together today. I have had to add an anti-spam box at the end of the comments due to an influx of spam pouring into the database. It wasn’t getting onto the site but was flooding into the database and my email on the phone would be alerted every time. Get’s a bit tiring. Please continue to use the comments section, hopefully when it stops I will remove it. Secondly I have added a few new gifs to the Giftastic Gunners. If you have any good ones that you want put up then just contact me and I will try and add more.