Gunners get vital clean sheet and take two goal lead into the cauldron of Naples
Aaron Ramsey once again showed Arsenal what they will be missing with a goal and energised performance
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EVERY week that Aaron Ramsey’s move to Juventus draws closer, the more baffling Arsenal’s decision to let him leave becomes.
Even Unai Emery has given up pretending that the Welsh international is just a small cog in a giant Emirates machine.
For every time the Gunners need a big performance to keep their season on the boil, Ramsey is the man they turn to.
He was at it again last night, scoring the crucial opening goal to leave his team-mates with one foot in the Europa League semi-finals.
Quite how they are going to replace him when he packs his bags for Turin at the end of the season is anyone’s guess.
Especially as they are allowing him to go as a free agent after refusing to give him a new contract.
Emery had taken the baffling decision to relegate Ramsey to the subs’ bench for Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Everton.
HOME COMFORTS
But it wasn’t a mistake he was going to repeat last night.
Because if Arsenal are going to achieve their season’s target of a return to the Champions League then Ramsey is going to be absolutely crucial over the next seven weeks.
For while they remain virtually invincible at Fortress Emirates this season, it’s a different story away from the comfort of their home ground.
So they kicked off last night knowing that anything less than a decisive advantage to take with them to Naples next week was going to be a serious problem.
The Italians had every reason to feel aggrieved at finding themselves relegated to the Europa League after beating Liverpool in their Champions League group as well as drawing home and away with PSG.
Yet they still almost came a cropper against RB Salzburg in last round and are currently a massive 20 points behind runaway Serie A leaders Juventus.
OZIL MAKES HIS POINT
No wonder the Napoli fans have been urging Carlo Ancelotti to get tougher with the players he inherited from Maurizio Sarri when he took over at the Stadio San Paolo last summer.
But that just isn’t in Nice Guy Carlo’s nature and it probably counted against him when Arsenal were assessing potential replacements for Arsene Wenger last year.
The thinking at the Emirates was that Ancelotti was too easy going when they wanted someone to come in and crack the whip with their underachievers.
That’s why they gave the job to Emery, a coach whose personality is in stark contrast to the man in the opposition dug-out last night.
For while Emery could hardly be more uptight if he had a stick up his bum, Ancelotti is so laid-back he’s almost horizontal.
Not that the former Chelsea boss is afraid to make the big decisions and it was his call to sell Mesut Ozil to Arsenal after just one match in charge at Real Madrid.
KOULIBALY ROCKY
Six years on and the Arsenal fans are still undecided about Ozil’s value to their team.
But no-one was questioning his role in last night’s 16th minute opener when he started the move which was eventually swept home by Ramsey via Alexandre Lacazette and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
It was a goal which had been coming for Arsenal after both Ramsey and Maitland-Niles had already been thwarted by a double block from Kalidou Koulibaly.
Napoli’s defensive colossus has repeatedly been linked with a summer move to Manchester United despite an eye-watering £90million valuation.
Yet there was nothing he could do to prevent Arsenal’s second goal when he deflected Lucas Torreira’s 24th minute shot past keeper Alex Meret after the pocket Gunner had mugged the loitering Fabian Ruiz.
Torreira had only just returned from a three-match domestic ban after being sent-off at Tottenham last month and was full of running following his unwanted rest.
The second his shot hit the back of the net he sprinted off to the Arsenal dug-out to retrieve a T-shirt paying tribute to a friend who had recently passed away.
GAME OF MISSED CHANCES
It was hard to believe this was the same Arsenal team which had surrendered so meekly at Goodison at the weekend.
But the return of Ramsey, Torreira, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Laurent Koscielny was making all the difference as Napoli were pushed further and further backwards.
Lacazette wasted the chance to put the tie to bed when he miscued right in front of goal and then had the ball snatched off his toes after Meret had spilled Aubameyang’s shot.
But the visitors should have claimed a crucial away goal just before half-time when Lorenzo Insigne skied a glorious opportunity over the bar.
Koulibaly had a header tipped over by Petr Cech and Piotr Zielinski wasted another decent chance to make their task easier in next week’s return leg.
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But Arsenal also had plenty of opportunities to extend their lead as keeper Meret did well to save further efforts from Ramsey, Aubameyang and Maitland-Niles.
A third Gunners goal would have killed tie stone dead but Ramsey fired hastily over from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s inviting cross in the closing stages.
But they will settle for a two-goal lead and a clean sheet to take to the Stadio San Paolo next Thursday, when Ramsey will get the chance to show Italian fans just what to expect next season.
