Match day 6 is upon us in the UEFA champions league group stages and its basically the moment of truth for the teams in group F. Between Arsenal, Napoli and Dortmund..One team will join Marseille and ''die'' while the other two would progress having cheated the grim reaper in this group everyone christened the group of death. We remain in a strong position to survive thanks in no small way to our back-to-back wins over Dortmund in Germany and of course the swatting aside of Marseille in Match day 5. All we need to do now at the very least is to pick up a point, which would regardless of the result in France see us Top the group. A loss would however still see us through as long as its not in excess of 3 goals..but if that happens,our quest to win the group and enjoy an easy draw for the Round of 16 would be jeopardized. Essentially, what all this means is that we still have a job to do come kickoff. Unfortunately, its not a game we can afford to rest or relax despite how well we've fared in terms of results. Usually Match days like this would have been excellent for giving the fringe players a run out, whilst keeping our powder dry (*cough*) for the tougher weekend tie. Nonetheless, we have to get on with it and in Napoli we would be up against a side that would be looking to get their own pound of flesh for the footballing lesson we handed to them in London. They wouldn't have enjoyed that visit one bit.
So who are Napoli and how are they faring domestically? Well in terms of who they are, they are just that team in Italy that Diego Maradona played for at some point in his career all those years ago.. Do you get the feeling sometimes that if it weren't for that simple fact, they'd probably be just another Udinese,or Cagliari, or Bologna..unable to command any kind of attention in the discourse of European football circles? hmmm...They sit currently in third position in the Serie A, two steps down from the top position they occupied when we last met them in October. They had began the league in great form at that time, but recent results since then have been a bit disappointing. In their last 5 games their form reads LLLWD, not the kind of form to set the pulses racing but they do boast of quality individual players that can make the difference in any game. Rafa Benitez seems under no illusions as to the magnitude of the task that awaits them. He knows qualification will be tough, because Arsenal are not a side given to conceding a lot even on a bad day.
Danger men:
Higuain: will not hug the headlines as much as his earlier summer romance with us suggested. All that has now been forgotten as both parties have moved on. He has 7 goals in the League in 14 games and got 2 impressive goals against Lazio recently. He still is the same penalty box man with a good sense of anticipation, quick and solid in the air, therefore Koscielny will need to be alert to do another Hatchet job on him.
Insigne:
The striker who got their lone strike in Dortmund has a great left foot and is potent with freekicks. His Goal record in the league is abysmal though, with a total of none scored in Serie A but he has two in 5 in the UCL. He compliments Higuain well in the sense that, he's quite happy to allow the former Madrid man occupy defenders while he takes up pockets of space left in the opponents D as a result.
Honorable mention goes to Hamsik (who is a doubt for the game), Inler and Berhami. All quite dangerous customers on their day..
For Arsenal, the news of Podolski making the trip suggests he may be closer to featuring than we all anticipated. We certainly could do with numbers back in the squad as the games start to occur in quick succession. Podolski available means we can give either Giroud or Santi a breather,as the ''smiling'' German can play in attack or from the left side of the front 3. Monreal who sat out the Everton game could get a start as well ditto for Walcott who ought to be approaching full fitness having been back three weeks now. I'd like as much as possible a good rotation in midfield as i want there to be fresh legs for the trip to the Etihad come Saturday. Rosicky, Flamini,and Wilshere (who had a stinker on sunday) would be a good combo. Vermaelen can't get a game and its tempting to feature him for this one. It'll be great for him, but would the boss be disposed to making such a wholesale change to the Backline for what is still an unfinished job?.. In anycase, i don't forsee any problem for us qualifying. I think we will be too strong to get beaten at all let alone by 3goals. So lets put this one behind us and March on to the Round of 16...be back with a review.
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