On the 17th anniversary of Arsène Wenger taking the reins at Arsenal, his side came out convincing winners against an on-form Napoli who were supposed to provide our toughest challenge yet.
After the Swansea victory, Arsène declared that result "better than any cake." Now let's take a moment to appreciate the magnitude of that statement... Imagine you could have any cake in the world, maybe a multi-layered vanilla and honeycomb cheesecake or a racing-car shaped sponge cake with cream cheese icing that is the size of an actual racing car... Arsène would rather have a win over Swansea; just imagine how happy he must be now!
Napoli started the season well with five wins and a draw in the league and an impressive win over Dortmund but they obviously haven't come up against a team of our calibre as they were thoroughly outplayed last night. Alan Smith busted out one of my favourite football clichés (when applied this way round) with his declaration that it was "men against boys."
Our first half performance was one of complete dominance - as well as we've played in recent memory. The passing and movement were far too quick and precise for Rafa Benitez' team to deal with and it didn't take long for the first goal to come. Some top drawer hold-up play from Olivier Giroud allowed Aaron Ramsey to run clear down the right. He was quick and composed and picked the right ball when he pulled back to Mesut Özil on the edge of the box. The first-time finish was sensational - guided powerfully into the top corner with the inside of his magical left boot. It was his first goal for the club and it will be hard to better.
A shell-shocked Napoli were struggling to get a firm foothold in the game when they failed to clear by the right touch line. The ball quickly came to Mesut Özil who skipped into the box and played a perfectly-weighted ball with the outside of his foot into the path of the excellent Olivier Giroud who slammed home for the 2nd and final goal of the game.
The second half was less explosive but very professional and organised as we cruised top down and music blaring to the final whistle. Napoli never seriously threatened and were reduced to shooting from outside the box. I probably needed us to reduce the intensity after watching the finale of Breaking Bad and the first half of the match in succession.
We were the first team to keep a clean sheet against Napoli this season and although they were without joint top-scorer and former Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain, this reflects very well on our team's defensive performance. The back four were solid and Flamini didn't give the talented, silly-haired Hamsik a look in.
There were too many positives to list so I won't try - I'll just finish by wishing Arsène a very happy Anniversary and hoping that he gets a very tasty and well-deserved cake after that big, juicy Champions League win.
Man of the Match: Mesut Özil
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