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Player Ratings: Napoli 0-1 Arsenal – Lacazette stars as Gunners reach semi-finals

By on April 18, 2019

alexandre lacazette

Alexandre Lacazette scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal booked their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 1-0 victory at Napoli this evening.

We started well and after riding a bit of a storm from Napoli we got the all-important away goal when Lacazette slammed home a stunning free-kick in the 35th minute.

It pretty much killed the tie as Napoli needed four goals to turn things around and we eased through the second half to secure a 1-0 win which sees us progress 3-0 on aggregate.

These are my ratings:

Cech  7/10 | Vital save to deny Callajon at 0-0 and did well to keep out a Monreal effort that would have lead to an own goal late on.

Sokratis  7/10 | Made countless headed clearances and dealt with a tricky Napoli attack well.

Koscielny  7/10 | Marshalled the back-line well and made a few important interceptions/blocks.

Monreal  6.5/10 | Another solid and unspectacular performance from the reliable Spaniard. Although he almost scored a crazy own goal late on.

Maitland-Niles  7.5/10 | Very good performance. A danger going forward down the right but lacking an end product at times. Solid defensively.

Torreira  6.5/10 | Could tell he was still carrying a groin problem but still covered plenty of ground to help stifle the Napoli attack.

Xhaka  7/10 | Very good in the first half when he dictated the play. Didn’t get involved in any silly business as a yellow card would have lead to a ban. Subbed in the second half to ensure no booking.

Kolasinac  7/10 | Always keen to get involved in attacking play but seemed to get over-excited at times and fluff the final pass.

Ramsey  6/10 | Off after 33 minutes with a hamstring injury. Let’s hope this wasn’t his last appearance in an Arsenal shirt.

Aubameyang  6/10 | Missed a sitter to make it 0-2 early in the second half when Meret made a world class save from point blank range.

Lacazette  8/10 | Stunning free-kick to give us the vital away goal in the 35th minute. Ran himself into the ground up front and should have had an assist when he set-up Aubameyang in the second half.

Subs:

Mkhitaryan [6], Elneny  [6], Iwobi  [6] 

This was a solid, professional performance from Arsenal which is something we haven’t said a lot away from home this season. We rode our luck early on but the Lacazette away goal killed the tie and we saw out the second half with ease. We’ll now meet Valencia in the semi-finals but it’s Crystal Palace up next on Sunday….

Here is the Lacazette goal: