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Unai Emery reflected positively on Arsenal’s 2-0 UEFA Europa League quarter-final win against Napoli on Thursday, but he reminded his team their work isn’t finished ahead of the second leg.
Arsenal took the lead in the tie at the Emirates Stadium thanks to Aaron Ramsey and an own goal from Kalidou Koulibaly.
Per MailOnline’s Max Winters, Emery said:
“It’s a good result but we have a big respect for them away because the first 90 minutes here we can impose the result, our game plan.
“We suffered sometimes in the second half, and they can control with the ball and the possession—they had one, two chances in the second half.
“But we worked well also in transition, and we had chances to finish the match with the third goal.
“Another 90 minutes and we aware there is going to be a different match. We need to be focused, clear, not more confident than we need, to respect them. We are going to do that.”
Ramsey broke the deadlock in the 14th minute when he applied the finishing touch to a fine team move.
The Gunners were 2-0 up 11 minutes later when Lucas Torreira’s shot took a wicked deflection that left Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret helpless (U.S. and UK only, respectively):
Bleacher Report Live @brlive
Arsenal grabbed two in the first half and the rest is history ?
Watch Leg 2 of this quarterfinal matchup April 18th on #BRLive ? https://t.co/5GgBLkzTjl
Football on BT Sport @btsportfootball
A beautiful Arsenal goal ?
Aaron Ramsey finishes off a brilliant move to put the Gunners ahead!
Awesome football ? https://t.co/yC9NErkEQ0
Meret denied further efforts from Ramsey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ainsley Maitland-Niles as Arsenal pushed for a third.
At the other end, Lorenzo Insigne blasted over from 12 yards and Piotr Zielinski failed to convert Insigne’s cross from close range.
Gunnerblog’s James McNicholas and Goal’s Charles Watts were impressed with Arsenal’s performance:
gunnerblog @gunnerblog
Fantastic performance, and a very good result despite the fact we ought to have scored more. Loved the pressing and commitment. Ramsey & Torreira were brilliant.
Charles Watts @charles_watts
Some thoughts from the Emirates after an absorbing European encounter. So far, so good for Arsenal – but work still to be done. https://t.co/Re6YdHTcwg
It’s a strong result for the Gunners to take with them to Naples next week, but Emery is right not to get carried away given their struggles on the road this season.
The Gunners have not kept a single clean sheet away from home in the Premier League, something even the relegated Fulham and Huddersfield Town have managed.
In the last two away trips in the Europa League, they lost 1-0 and 3-1 to BATE Borisov and Rennes, respectively.
In 2019, Arsenal have picked up just two wins in 12 away games in all competitions.
They’ve given themselves a good chance of progressing with their win, but they’re far from through to the semi-finals yet.
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