Morning lads!
Tonight, Its gonna be
champions league night and full of Champions league action coming our way. We
play Napoli tonight and after all the research I have done, It was evident that
we never faced Napoli in an European competition ever before. We managed to play
against them at Emirates not long ago in the Emirates cup this season.
Lineup Then:
Arsenal
Starting XI :
Subs :
Napoli
Starting XI:
Subs : Rafael, Maggio, Juan Zuniga, Radosevic, Albiol, Dzemaili, Fernandez, Higuain, Mertens, Calaio, Dossena
Blast from the Past:
Arsenal had a really good pre
season in the Asian Tour with Giroud on hot form along with Ramsey’s terrific performance
and Zelalem’s blissful through balls before meeting Napoli in the Emirates Cup.
Arsenal drew against Napoli with the scoreline 2-2. Arsenal were quick to
concede the first goal courtesy Insigne which was actually a mistake from our
Jenko. In another 20 minutes, Arsenal conceded their 2nd goal and
this time it was a mistake by Fabianski. Arsenal were not in the form in first
half which they were expected to be. After half time, Arsenal came back with a
laudable performance and the French duo scored the goals to level the game. Higuain got booed by the home fans every time he involved in the play cause he moved to Napoli before he was linked with an Arsenal move. The same could happen all over again tonight.
Watch the match highlights
here..
Current Mood:
Arsenal have been in a prolific form and are at the top of
the Premier League even after the loss against Aston Villa in the first game of
the season at Home. And the first game against Marseille in CL also earned a
good result for Arsenal with neat performances in second half from the team and
as usual the highlight being Aaron Ramsey. Arsenal are also in a 9-game winning
run considering West Brom in COC was a win in penalties.
Napoli on the other hand have also been successful in Serie
A winning 5 and drawing 1 of the 6 games they have played in the league. In CL,
they have beaten one of the title favorites Borussia Dortmund who were down to
10 men before Half Time.
While both the teams have played well in their leagues,
both the teams haven’t faced a top 4 side except for Tottenham and Milan. For
Arsenal, their opponent were a side of new look and they didn’t have enough
time to gel together while for Napoli, Milan had much of a depleted side with
full of injuries.
Predicted Lineup:
Arsenal
This time around Vermaelen is
expected to start ahead of Mertesacker as he needs from rest after playing
continuous football week in week out. Arsène could also rest Flamini and
Gibbs. Arteta will step in for the Italian-French Midfielder while Monreal will
fill in for Gibbs. Rozza returns to action but most probably he will start from
bench.
Napoli
Napoli rested Higuain and
Hamsik in their last game. So they will return to the team to start against
Arsenal along with Maggio and Zuniga, the full backs.
Talismen:
Arsenal : Napoli will visit
Emirates with a mindset of getting a point at least. They won’t go all out
attack and they will prefer to play deep and hit on counter attack. Özil will
be the key man for Arsenal this time to find players in the pocket of holes and
create chances for the team. Özil will also have a reunion with his ex teammates Albiol, Callejon and Higuain.
Napoli : Like I said, Napoli
will try to defend heavily and so Reina will be the key for them. He is in hot
form for them keeping clean sheets and saving penalties. Remember, he denied
the mighty Balotelli, the Penalty Specialist, from scoring the penalty when the
two sides met a couple of weeks ago.
Scoreline Prediction:
It is going to be a difficult
game for both teams. Advantage will be with Arsenal as they play at Home. I
predict a 2-1 to Arsenal. Ramsey to appear on score sheet along with Giroud.
Come on you Gunners!
See ya next time with a win
against Napoli. Yeah! I’m quite confident about it.
Cheers!
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