Arsenal rewarded for finally embracing Europa League but fail to kill off Napoli hopes

The Gunners failed to secure an insurmountable lead heading back to Naples for the second leg next week

You know it is truly the business end of the season when English clubs suddenly begin treating the Europa League not with mild contempt, but deadly seriousness. It was obvious from the moment Arsenal’s starting XI was revealed that Unai Emery was in no mood to mess around this evening, and he was rewarded with an impressive 2-0 victory that puts Arsenal on course for their second European semi-final in as many years.

Emery cannot be blamed for turning in trepidation to the big boys. Not after the bungling in Borisov. Not after the ruination in Rennes. In the past two rounds Arsenal have had to rely on bailing themselves at the Emirates after humblings on the road; here Emery grasped that he had to treat this first leg with the finality of the second if Arsenal were to progress.

They have certainly given themselves every possible chance. And yet it is a measure of just how much this Arsenal team struggles away from the Emirates that, come the ninety-second minute, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was still lurking on Nikola Maksimovic’s shoulder rather than defending, desperately attempting to engineer one last counter-attack. A two goal lead in a European tie would usually be enough. But with Arsenal, there is always the chance of disaster.

For tonight at least, Arsenal can enjoy this victory. The club have been waiting for a European evening like this. Under the floodlights, a full strength eleven on the field, against a historic and truly dangerous opponent. Ignore the technopop pre-match anthem and the lurid amber branding smothering all four sides of the Emirates, and this could have been a Champions League night.

It could have been until the two teams kicked-off, at least. Napoli may have brought the glitz and the glamour, not to mention a seething mass of pleasingly co-ordinated away fans, but they were soon overran in midfield and always vulnerable to the counter-attack. None of their superstars delivered, least of all perennial transfer rumour mill favourite Kalidou Koulibaly, who was nutmegged for the opening goal and turned the ball into his own net for the second. £90m doesn’t buy much these days.

Perhaps Carlo Ancelotti was naive to play two forwards in a determined bid to score an away goal. Perhaps he was simply outmanoeuvred by Emery, whose great tactical trick of the night was to deploy Aaron Ramsey and Lucas Torreira in an unconventional if extremely effective double-pivot.

It worked. With Torreira policing the midfield behind him, Ramsey was free to roam forward, causing no end of problems for a defence who will dread facing him again next season, not to mention next week.

On a bright, brisk evening at the Emirates, the floodlights not all that necessary until well after kick-off, it was the Welshman who opened the scoring by rounding off an intricately constructed faberge egg of a goal: a move that began with Ainsley Maitland-Niles artfully poaching the ball from Allan and ended six crisp passes later. There were so many pleasing elements: from Ozil’s languid pas out wide to Lacazette poking the ball between the legs of Koulibaly, before it was eventually worked to Ramsey, casually waiting in his own pocket of the Emirates, ready to roll the ball home.

Mesut Ozil is tackled (Getty Images)

Moments later and his midfield partner also got in on the act. Quite how professional footballers, in the year 2019, are still falling so desperately for ‘The Chop’ is anybody’s guess, but a neat turn of direction was all it took for Lucas Torreira to completely outwit Fabian Ruiz, the Spaniard suddenly looking very much like a man who had misplaced his bright gold Nike Tiempo Legends for a size twelve pair of Doc Martens. All of a sudden free on the edge of the box, Torreira pelted a low shot towards goal that looped in unkindly off Koulibaly.

Will those two goals be enough? Emery certainly didn’t seem to think so going by his substitutions, maintaining Arsenal’s shape in the second-half by introducing Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and only throwing on Mohamed Elneny as a like-for-like replacement for the tiring Torreira.

Lucas Torreira wins the ball (Getty Images)

Still Arsenal pressed even as the first supporters began to twitch apologetically to the exits and the last trains home, Emery unconcerned even as Napoli went close to scoring that all-important own-goal, the disappointing Piotr Zielinski skying the ball over the bar from just a few yards out.

But for all of the thrillingly late rampages forward, the score remained the same. It was a calm, composed and above all vitally necessary performance from Arsenal. There is, you would think, very little chance of them replicating it away in Naples next week. But with a two goal lead in their back pocket, they may just be able to progress without needing to.