Pierre Emerick Aubameyang says Arsenal will head to Italy full of confidence after an impressive 2-0 win over Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
Aaron Ramsey’s strike and Lucas Torreira’s deflected effort put us in charge inside 25 minutes and while the Gabon international, leading the line, probably should have added to the scoreline, he was pleased with the way his teammates managed the threat of the visitors.
“I think we played well and it was important to win,” he told Arsenal.com.
“I think we had a lot of chances to score more goals, but we didn’t concede and that is a good point, that’s really important. Now we will go to Napoli with a lot of confidence and we will go there to score goals.
“We talked before the game that it was important to be strong defensively and that was the key today. We defended well, the strikers as well. I think we played well.”
While an Arsenal goal in the San Paulo next Thursday would leave Napoli needing to score four goals to progress, Aubameyang recognises that recent poor form on the road – we’ve won only two of our last 12 games away from the Emirates – means nobody in red and white will be resting on their laurels.
“We know away we have some difficulties” he conceded. “We have to improve that. As I said before we are confident. We had a good result today and we have everything in our hands. We go there and will try to win the game.
“Of course, because if you win there I think you send a message to everybody. It will be an important game and a good challenge for us.
He added: “I think we will play with confidence and I am sure we will do something, because now they have to score goals so they will attack and for sure they will leave space for us. That will be great for us.
“I am not really worried. We will give everything and I am sure we will go through.”
Here’s hoping we don’t torpedo our confidence with a half-arsed showing at Watford on Monday.
Good point on them needing to attack, I’m sure our strikeforce will enjoy the space.
I hope they go with lots of energy and determination too. Confidence is great but it can dip easily.
I feel like Aubameyang’s form is going to make or break the remainder of our season. We need his goals desperately but his finishing last night was pretty woeful. If he just took 50% of his chances, we’ll win this thing and finish top four.
Totally off topic but need to vent. That Everton team that basically destroyed us last week lost to already relegated Fulham today. And all our rivals won. Seriously, what the fuck was that game all about? Now we’re in sixth and one defeat away from being well out of the race. If we don’t make the champions league, that Everton game is the one we’ll look back on. Ffs.
It happens all the time, a team puts everything into a big match, plays it like a cup final, and then loses against someone they should be beating a few days later because they’re totally knackered. Everton played out of their skins, and we couldn’t get going, the lower league teams always give it a go against us because they believe they can get something out of the game. When we stop giving away so many chances they won’t try so hard.
What to do against Watford? I would leave Koscielny out as we need him 100% for return leg.
Mustafi & ?, Mavropanos? Tough decisions, Monreal could do with a breather as well.
We have to play kos imo because of papa suspention. Maybe we should go with kos and musta/mavro vs watford (top 4 still the priority) and soka/musta for return leg. Mavro may be too big a risk as we’re still in the run in, had we been either dead certain to finish in or out of the top 4 I’d go for mavro
Mavro hasn’t even played this year, barely if anything. Don’t think it’s the right time to throw him in. It will be tired legs, but we do need to go for Mustafi and Kos
Unfortunately we have been getting so many suspensions this season
Confidence, fine – but not over-confidence. As Emery has indicated, Napoli will very likely be a different proposition at the SPS. The good news is we’ve a two goal cushion which, if we’re honest, was the minimum needed. However, if we were to concede an early goal there (and it’s likely we’ll concede at some stage, given our away record) it could become very tricky, very quickly. So let’s see the talk turned into performance where it counts, on their pitch.
Agree, Man U vs PSG showed us you lose your advantage very quick if you make mistakes.
It’s so annoying that we were supposed to have 66 points with a game in hand compared to Chelshit in the League ?
We will need to score that away goal.
Efficiency in front of goal with our chances.
Lacazette and/or Auba on the night must be sharp.
Ancelotti will tell them London is history that can never be undone. – Today is a new day, in front of our own enthusiastic supporters in our own balmy Campanian air. Run in behind the back of the Arsenal ball watchers, play the ball across their defence, and we’ll make 2-0 in two minutes.
I would be very attentive if I was Auba. This is certainly not going to be a walk in the park.
Abu, you need to be more clinical with the number of chances you get. It might help, you never know.