Jack Wilshere says Arsenal will go to Naples to win despite knowing the Gunners could qualify from Group F even if they lose.
Eager to maintain Arsenal’s good run of form and with one eye on another big away day scalp, the England midfielder accepted that while it’s odd to not have qualified despite taking 12 points from a possible 15 his teammates are firmly focused on finishing the job.
Speaking to UEFA.com after last night’s 2-0 win against Marseille, the 22-year-said: “We knew this was going to be a tough group. Any other group we should be through with 12 points. We’ve got a tough game in Naples. We’ve seen English teams in the past struggle over there so we know what to expect and we know what we have to do.
“We never go into a game saying we want to draw. We want to win every game and it won’t be any different over there. We will be confident going into the game and hopefully we can get a win.
“We’ve got to keep on going to the end this time. We want to win every game, but especially in the Champions League. It is a massive, massive competition.
“All the top players want to be playing in it and it is no different here. There is no better place to play than in the Champions League in the last 16 and the quarter-finals and we want to be doing that.”
The architect of last night’s victory with two goals, Wilshere stressed that the second of tidy finishes wouldn’t have been possible without the unselfish play of Mesut Ozil.
Weighing up the German international’s performance, the midfielder said he was impressed with the way the summer signing overcame the disappointment of a first half penalty miss.
“It was really unselfish from Mesut [for the second goal]. Sometimes after a penalty you feel like you have to score, but unselfishly he passed it across the goal and it was an easy tap-in for me.”
Depending on the result between Borussia Dortmund and Marseille, Arsenal need only avoid defeat by three goals to progress to the knockout stages.
Looking through the record books we’ve a pretty decent record against Serie A sides with 16 wins, 9 draws and 7 defeats from 32 competitive games. It’s even more positive in the Wenger era where we’ve only suffered two defeats on Italian soil – the away hammering by AC Milan a couple of years ago and a dire 1-0 defeat by Juventus in the group stages in 2002 which was played out in front of about 250 people.
Yessss! THIS. IS. SPARRTTAAAAA!!! *spits everywhere* I mean, this is the Arsenal!
I can imagine Flamini pulling that…..with blood all over the place 😛
That’s the spirit !
We won’t lose and the way the defence is playing Napoli have fuck all chance of getting 3 goals
We will do an Italian Job on them.
We got to nipples to be the breast in our group!
This is the Arsenal we have been looking for. Welldone boys.
Napoli heh heh
Nippley
tee hee
They will know they have to win to have any chance of qualifying. And the irony is that they’ll probably lose by trying to win because that’s playing to our strengths. 15 points or at least 13 points means we top the group and a quick glance at the other groups means if we top the group, we’re pretty much assured passage to the quarter finals.
If Le coq were around to stand firm the nipples would find it really HARD to withstand our thrust.
To pun, or not to pun, that is the question. And in this case, I think not.
Hey, Look! A shooting star! Make a Wilsh.
Grabs coat. . . . .
wtf people already getting on ozils back? we must have a very thick fanbase who never learn shallow minded fans judging him after 12 or so games? asking was he worth the £42M we paid?? if thats how people make their judgement then Henry was shit. wtf? we have a good thing goin right now why do people have to go after ozil now ( and mind you he’s doing absolutely fine in my eyes and many others id assume) why do people expect magic each time just coz we flashed out big bucks??? ridiculous and havent people learnt from… Read more »
“There is no better place to play than in the Champions League in the last 16 and the quarter-finals”
Except the semi-finals, final or the Super Cup! 🙂
We haven’t yet gotten over our win yesterday, now we talk of our next win? How many wins do we have to bare before sacking the tea-lady?!
At least spiralliciously good, chaps!
A European win on a Tuesday night feels great, as any gooner will tell you! If you want to to know what it feels like on a thursday, ask a Spud.
European “win” on a Thursday night. Do Spuds have memories that long?
I’m confident we can get a result. This squad is good enough and mature enough. Even Italian newspapers say that Napoli need a miracle against Arsenal.
I know this is a bit off topic but does anyone know what that song was going back and forth between the Clock End and North Bank last night? Ta.
I think its: we’re the north, we’re the north, we’re the north end highbury. We’re the clock end, we’re the clock end, we’re the clock end highbury. Thats what i sing anyway :p
north bank* sorry
Cheers Bob
On a good day you get the East and West stand joining in. Obviously, it’s a legacy of the old stadium. I don’t get to every home game but I think it only started up again recently. The club have been “Arsenalising” the new stadium in various ways since it opened. A couple of seasons ago, they mounted a replica of the old clock inside the South end and re-named the 4 quarters after the old Highbury stands. It feels great singing (in my case, We’re the North Bank…) – it binds the fans together and creates a great atmosphere.… Read more »
Spot on with the great atmosphere it creates. My favourite chant to sing. There’s a beautifully eerie quality to hearing the split second silence followed by the chant from the other end.
Arshavin is a different case, coupled with being played out of position and struggling to stay fit (and not fat!) its not difficult to see how he deteriorated as months years went by….Arshavin had one good euro and that was it whearas Ozil has been there done that and im pretty sure not long ago you called £42m for Ozil more or less a bargain. Wtf mike, we have a good thing going ob right now why do you have to go after ozil? why do people expect magic each time just coz we flashed out big bucks??? ridiculous! seriously… Read more »
please delete this↑↑ @arseblog my mistake
Top of EPL and top of UCL group of death
We’d better finish top of group, as it looks like the non English group winners are going to be all the big names.
Our biggest game of the season will be the Naples away!
Man City is going to get one of Barca, RM, AM or PSG. Delicious side order.
And if you want some ketchup with that then Chelsea or United to get a Dortmund with all their injured players back.
BOOM!
Good enough reason to want to win the group for me.
Looking at the teams we could face if we finish second – Barca, Real, Bayern, PSG or Atletico – and then at the teams we could face if we finish first – Zenit, Basel, Olympiakos, Shahtar or Milan – I think it would be rather important to get at least a point from Naples.
Juve or Galatasary as well, and Ajax has a chance to pip Milan in the last game. Normally you wouldn’t count on the latter happening, but Milan are a shower this year.
The difference in quality of teams in 1st place and 2nd is absurd this year. I expect no upsets in the next round. Juve would probably be the worst 2nd we could get, maybe Shakhtar, even Milan wouldn’t be scary, we could easily pay them back for 2 years ago. If we were 2nd the best we could hope for would be… PSG or Atletico? I honestly don’t know what would be worse. Probably Atletico, their current form is scary. PSG have amazing players but are not as good a machine. Let us take them on in the quarter-finals, I… Read more »
Napoli. We can take all 3 points.