Sloppy Gunners squeeze through

Napoli 2 Arsenal 0

This was a game they should not have lost, but now they have, it means they go through to the Champions League last 16 in second place, and will get one of the big guns in the next round, with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid all possible opponents.

A point would have meant top spot, but they paid for a sloppy display — while Napoli went out altogether.

Gunners defender Per Mertesacker believes complacency played a part last night. “We were at 10% less mentally because we were always thinking we were through. But we deserved (to go through) because we played a good group stage. We’re second in the group for the draw next week.”

At least Arsenal avoided the three-goal defeat that would have seen them exit the competition entirely as Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon scored for Napoli and Mikel Arteta was sent off late on.

On Saturday, Wenger’s men travel to Manchester City — perhaps the toughest away game in Europe on present form. Then, nine days later, they host Chelsea. If they emerge from those games having maintained their five-point lead in the Premier League, then we really will have to take them seriously, both at home and abroad.

But yesterday was, as Wenger acknowledged beforehand, the most decisive of the three matches.

In a bear-pit of an atmosphere in southern Italy, aiming to reach the knockout stages for a 14th successive season, they needed calm heads and solid temperaments. In Mathieu Flamini, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, they had exactly that.

But there were genuine fears for those Arsenal fans who were at the ground. The vast majority of them missed kick-off as the official coaches struggled to reach the San Paulo.

When they did get into the ground, there were reports of trouble with the Neopolitans outside and then issues with the ticket machines, leading some to complain on Twitter of extremely dangerous situations. It sounded like a truly unpleasant experience and will surely be investigated.

Yet on the pitch it was rather less troublesome in a first half that was best summed up by the fact that Arsenal’s most successful passing combination was between their goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, and centre-forward Olivier Giroud.

Napoli, under former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, were surprisingly listless. Gonzalo Higuain could have signed for Arsenal before moving to Napoli from Real Madrid in the summer but he was poor here.

Nevertheless, that was at least in part due to Arsenal, whose pragmatism was shown by the fact that Flamini joined Arteta in a defensive system in central midfield.

Napoli immediately harried those two, ensuring Arsenal had no time on the ball on a bobbly pitch that did not assist their natural passing game.

The hosts’ tails were up as news filtered through that Marseille had cancelled out an early goal for Borussia Dortmund and they were unfortunate not to take the lead when Goran Pandev took too long before shooting at Szczesny.

Arsenal were coming into the game, though, and came close on 23 minutes when Giroud’s shot was parried by reserve goalkeeper Rafael Cabral, coming in for the injured Pepe Reina. The ball fell invitingly for Mesut Ozil but the German lost his balance at the vital moment.

The game was becoming increasingly bogged down as both sides committed a number of niggly fouls to slow the pace of the game down. With chances few and far between, it was exactly what Wenger would have wanted.

There were moments of danger — most notably when Christian Maggio shot over after being put through down the right.

The full-back was put off then by Szczesny, and the Pole had another nervous moment shortly after when he kicked a clearance straight against the head of Higuain and was fortunate to see it bounce wide.

The second half began in the same fashion, and the frustration from Napoli was clear. Benitez spent around €90m in the summer and more was expected, even though it was an exceptionally tough group.

They had a chance when Pablo Armero strolled through but the full-back showed all the instincts of a defender shooting weakly at Szczesny.

The temperature had been raised, though, and the team responded as Kieran Gibbs was forced to block well from substitute Lorenzo Insgine.

And the goal that had been coming arrived from Higuain. It was a wonderful finish from the Argentine, turning Koscielny before finding the bottom corner. The stadium was rocking, and referee Viktor Kassai enabled them to turn the volume up even further, dismissing captain Mikel Arteta for a second bookable offence for a foul in midfield. Arsenal went back to their delaying tactics as both sides desperately, waited on news from Dortmund. When it came it was disastrous for both, Callejon’s strike for Napoli proving futile.

NAPOLI: Rafael Cabral 7, Maggio 6, Fernandez 7, Albiol 7, Armero 6; Dzemaili 6, Behrami 7; Callejon 6, Pandev 5 (Insigne, 57; 6), Mertens 6; Higuain 7.

ARSENAL: Szczesny 6, Jenkinson 6, Mertesacker 7, Koscielny 7, Gibbs 6, Flamini 8, Arteta 6, Rosicky 6 (Monreal, 74; 6), Cazorla 6 (Ramsey, 67; 6), Ozil 5, Giroud 6.

Ref: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).