Arsenal vs Napoli predicted starting XI: This is the moment

Arsenal have to keep a two goal advantage against Napoli in Naples, which is going to be stressful, yeah? Here are the guys that will be charged with the job.

Needless to say, there were plenty of gasps when Arsenal drew Napoli as their next opponent in the Europa League, especially after they had such a tough time against Rennes. But true to form, the Gunners took the home leg and did the job that needed doing, scoring two goals and dominating the match the way it needed to be dominated.

But we always knew that was going to happen. Or, at the very least, we always knew that this was very likely to happen. It’s the away leg that was always likely to give us fits, and that is what we are dealing with now.

Going into Naples with an eye on protecting a two goal lead, Unai Emery has to have one thing in mind – who do you trust? He’s been experimenting all year, but this is not the time to continue that trend. This is the time to send out all the guys you know and understand most and let them close down shop, with an eye on nicking an away goal, if at all possible, with never forcing the issue.

Or something like that. It’s going to be a difficult match no matter what we set out to do, but Lord knows we can’t just bunker down and defend all match. So Emery has a lot to think about, and we want to help him by giving the starting XI that gives us our best chance at winning.

With so much on the line, here is what Unai Emery may set out to do. I have it down as a 3-4-2-1 formation, but as we saw against Watford, there is always a high likelihood that Emery will shift and refocus throughout the match, depending on the flow of the game.

We’ll start in goal.

Keeper

This has been Petr Cech‘s competition, and despite all the pressure that is inherent in this match, it isn’t going to change. We have to trust Cech to do a job. He’s nothing if not a professional, so I don’t see why we can’t be confident in him.

On to the back three.