Arsenal Euro rivals trip up

Arsenal’s Premier League surge is in marked contrast to their rivals in Champions League Group D.

Both Napoli and Dortmund, who square off tomorrow night in a crucial European battle, were beaten at home over the weekend while Marseille all but admitted they are going to send a second string to North London today.

Antonio Cassano scored a late winner for Parma to put a dent in Napoli’s title hopes who suffer back-to-back Serie A defeats at home for the first time since December 2012.

Bayern Munich’s Germany star Mario Goetze came off the bench to score in the European champions’ 3-0 win at his ex-club Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

Arjen Robben and Thomas Mueller added late goals in the final five minutes.

Marseille have concerns over key players ahead of their London clash with Arsenal tomorrow night. Forward Andre-Pierre Gignac has a rib injury while playmaker Mathieu Valbuena has a hip injury. Tunisian forward Saber Khalifa is a doubt while striker André Ayew is out until the new year as he faces knee injury picked up while on Ghana duty this week.