Napoli 0 – Arsenal 1 match report: imperious (except on the scoreboard)

That is about the most dominant 1-0 win you’ll ever see, which is somewhat amusing because you could say the same about Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea at the weekend. The Gunners played Napoli off the park and should have been well-clear of the Italian side. But the finishing was dire and it took a magnificent goal from Martin Ødegaard to cap off his MOTM performance to claim the points.

Defending a 1-0 lead down the stretch will never feel great, but Napoli managed a solitary shot in the second half. It came in the 62nd minute, before Arsenal took the lead, by the way. After going ahead, the Gunners ably kept the home side at bay. The entire defense played well, as usual. Ezri Konsa and Piero Hincapie stood out. I’m not sure Konsa lost a duel all match. Hincapie somehow seems to never, ever stop running, including sprinting back to be in the right place at the right time to short-circuit a handful of decent Napoli attacks.

Arsenal should have been out of sight at halftime, though. Mikel Merino put a diving header straight at the keeper when either side would have found the back of the net. Bukayo Saka somehow lifted the ball over the bar from about 10 yards on a 0.7 xG chance — that’s really, really high…but maybe not as high as his shot *rimshot*.

Napoli looked vaguely threatening on the break in the first half but couldn’t really translate the moves into chances. The scariest moment came when Kevin De Bruyne found himself enough space to shoot from just outside the box, but the defense closed his shooting window enough that he fired straight at David Raya. Gabriel forced a similar outcome from Napoli’s only other decent move — his presence and positioning forced the attacker into a tame, easily saved effort.

The Gunners picked up where they left off on attack in the second half (derogatory). Piero Hincapie Gervinho’ed (or Wondolowski’ed, take your pick), somehow volleying the ball over the ball from inside the six-yard box.

Fortunately, Martin Ødegaard exists. The Arsenal captain finished off a patient-turned-lethal attack with a pinpoint shot off the far post and into the back of the net. The goal came after what felt like several minutes of moving the ball around, probing, and recycling when nothing was on just outside the Napoli penalty area. Then, suddenly, the opening. A line-breaking pass. A couple quick one / two touch balls pinging into the spaces between defender. Christos Tzolis finds his captain. 1-0 to Arsenal.

For good measure, the Gunners had another “how have they not scored” attack that could have put the game away. Kai Havertz put Noni Madueke in, but substitute Napoli keeper Vanja Milinković-Savić was quickly off his line and Madueke couldn’t slip it past him. The Arsenal winger kept possession, circled back, and found Tzolis, but the Greek winger had his low blast stopped by a defender covering for the keeper. Boy, if Arsenal had somehow conceded and split the points after not finding the back of the net from that sequence.

Finishing aside (which is kind of important, I’ll grant), that was an excellent performance from Arsenal. The attack is flowing. Martin Ødegaard is cooking. The defense is as stingy as ever. Arsenal fired 26 shots in the match, the most ever managed by the club in an away Champions League contest. The final xG tally was 0.3 to 4.1 or somewhere thereabouts. If the Gunners keep playing like this, there will be multiple gaudy scorelines soon enough. Particularly if they remember they are allowed to score from set pieces — 10 of 10 goals from open play this season. As ever, this team is really, really good.

The Gunners face PSG in their first Champions League final in 20 years

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