Quotes From the ARSENAL VS NAPOLI match

"The mobility of the Arsenal players was impressive - it was as if they were each in two positions at once," - Gokhan Inler

“We tried to improve in the second half but it was very difficult to get back in the game. Our opponents played very well,” - Gokhan Inler

“Mesut especially tonight was unbelievable. It is really simple to find him on the pitch and I have a really good understanding with him" - Olivier Giroud

“It’s a really nice feeling – especially to score at home. You could see that the fans really supported us up until the last minute" - Mesut Ozil

“What was important was that we won the game. Of course I’m pleased to have scored, especially at home. It was my way of thanking the fans." - Mesut Ozil

“Overall the first half was outstanding. Second half, we played more with more maturity, less drive going forward and a bit more caution. But overall it was an outstanding game" - Arsene Wenger

"It was their passing and movement off the ball and the way the players rotated. They didn't play in straight lines and Giroud is just a really big player for them. If they lose him they've got a problem" - Glenn Hoddle

"They've got the quality and Ozil is only going to be a massive boost but it was the way they started, They literally finished the game in 15 minutes." - Ian Wright 

" "I was like one of the fans behind the goal, just watching the game, and I couldn't believe what was going on. We must have a couple of decent players or something! It was very enjoyable to watch" - Wojciech Szczesny

O-zil, G-roud, Rams-e, Arse an all.

"It feels so good scoring in an Arsenal Shirt Mahn"

"Ozil welcomed his former team mates but apologised for having no presents for them...please, do them the honour of receiving your first Goal, Mesut."

"Hopefully Giroud will get a post birthday goal and Ramsey continues his rich form in front of goal."

All quotes from yesterday's blog. Did the boys read it? hehehe, I doubt that. 

Celebratory mode indeed. The Arsenal really showed the boys from Naples what we are made of. Fast pace and intelligently played football. It took as long as 5 minutes to take the lead as Giroud did a fantastic job to play Ramsey through and the former saw Ozil running with his hand up asking for the ball, and boy did he get it.   O-Zil to the Gunners. 1 nil. Giroud showed how much of a hustler he is through out the match and one of his worrisome moves in the opponents corner led to an interception which he passed to Ozil and the german did what he knows how to do better than most, "When you got a problem, just call on Ozil, he will assist you" that was one of the finest tweets from last night. Giroud did well to lift the ball past a diving Pepe Reina and 2 nil it was in 15 mins. We could have scored more as we ran Napoli out in the 1st half. The score remained the same till the end but Arsenal were never really threatened in a match most pundits said would be our 1st real test after our 1st real test vs Sp*rs.

Two things came to mind yesterday. 
1. Wenger Loves Ozil...did you see his celebration when the German scored? 
2. Since the beginning of the season, Arsenal have taken the lead in every single game.

So here are some interesting numbers I conjured up.

10 - Number of Consecutive matches Arsenal have won this season (Including the PK's vs WBA)
10 - Number of players to score for Arsenal so far
11 - In all Arsenal's 11 matches. Arsemal have taken the lead.
5 - 5 of those games Arsenal have scored in the first 20 minutes.
5 - Number of games it took Mesut Ozil to score.
1 - Arsenal's position in League and UCL tables.
42.5 - Number of millions of pounds it took for Arsenal to get a cute German guy who finished with aplomb last Night.

We are now in a great position and the good thing about the double header with BVB is that we are first at home, a good result will give us added confidence going into the second leg in Dortmund.

Nice to see Ozil score his first goal, Ramsey didn't score but he had a very very good game last night as did Giroud and the rest of the team behind them. 

Next up is West Brom in the EPL. they beat the champions away last time out. I don't expect any negative pundit to use that as a reason to say they are our 1st real test after the other 1st real tests.

Till tomorrow then.

Follow me on twitter @caspanova it's an #AFC thing

#ARSNAP UCL Tonight

Happy Independence Day Nigeria. We love you regardless.

We Love Arsenal too. Tonight, we play our first home match in the UCL against a strong Napoli side. They are unbeaten in the Serie A and have had a good start to the season as have we. Gonzalo Higuain comes to the Emirates for the second time since his move to The Arsenal failed. We played Napoli in the Emirates cup and though it was a pre-season match, it wasn't easy by any means. They were 2 nil up before we fought back to draw the match through Koscielny and Giroud. A careful look at this Napoli side and you know they have many very good players in Hamsik, Insigne, Higuain, Inler, Callejon, Reina and so on. Mesut Ozil welcomed his former team mates but apologised for having no presents for them...please, do them the honour of receiving your first Goal, Mesut.

Team news: Rosicky is back in the squad and should start the match IMO. Looking at the players who have had to start on the wings due to injury issues, I'd say he should have a shot at replacing Wilshere or Gnabry on one side of the field of play.

The Manager has said it's like an obsession wanting to add the UCL to his CV which is a good thing for us. I hope the desire and willingness to follow up with action is also instilled in the players enough. The Likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Man City? (duh???) Have teams good enough to win the UCL. That doesn't stop other teams from pulling off upsets and getting a chance to hold the trophy. Dortmund came close with a carefully built rather than bought team. We are in a group hard enough to start with which has Dortmund in it. A win tonight will give us a mighty advantage albeit a home match because it puts the pressure on the other teams. Hopefully Giroud will get a post birthday goal and Ramsey continues his rich form in front of goal.

Let's do the rest on twitter tonight. #COYG #ARSNAP #AFC

Follow me @caspanova

TGIM...eh?

Hey. Who loves a Monday morning except the traffic police and parking agents that make some fuss of the little power they have been given. Here in Nigeria, we may go around driving without a license...till we're caught and the story becomes quite unpleasant.

It's so hot I wish today' a holiday. Tomorrow is the Independence Day (National Day) celebration here in Nigeria and I bet lots of people are gonna celebrate INSIDE their houses. It's hardly a big deal these days. 53 years ago tomorrow, Nigeria became an independent nation from the British Colonial rule.

Enough of the lessons. Talking about British stuffs, most Nigerians are fans of British soccer especially the EPL teams. The best of these teams will be in action tomorrow and victory will make some good celebratory atmosphere I must say.

Arsenal host Napoli tomorrow in the UCL and a win will see us sit at the top of another table, alone.

The boys have done well so far and the loss to villa is now like a match from last season. Tomas Rosicky is expected to be part of the squad and that is some good news per the returning of injured players. Some tired legs could hamper our run so we need the lads back as soon as possible.

The Group is so difficult no one can predict the outcome. Of course we expect the Arsenal to scale through and haven won a match away, that's an advantage. Now, all we ought to do to go through is win all our home matches (which won't be that easy by the way) to ensure that we're in the knockout phase.

Ramsey may just nick one in tomorrow, who knows? I wish Ozil would also get on the score sheet, I want to see how he celebrates a goal in the gooner colours. When do you think Ozil will score his first Arsenal goal?

Follow me on twitter @caspanova

#TopOfTheLeague

I was on twitter celebrating the perfect scoreline for the Sp*rs v Chelsea match. Yes, perfect, if we win we'll be on top the table with 2 points between us and Sp*rs. That will be something. Then few hours later, the manchester clubs gave us everything...for the day at least.

So, to South Wales for the Saturday Night Football and the boo boys picked on the in-form Ramsey. The first 45' were open and cagey at the same time. Both teams passed the ball around but didn't create much but for the great run of the little german boy in the final minutes of the half to set up the Handsome Frenchman who missed a great chance to put Arsenal ahead.

The 2nd half was so so...Arsenal played with more intent and it paid off after some smooth attack that led to Ramsey setting up the little german who fired past Vorm to make it #OneNilToTheArsenal. Ramsey set up Ozil few moments later and the german settled down to shoot but Vorm was so well placed Ozil couldn't get any angle to place the ball but shot close to the keeper who made the save.
It didn't take long, Wilshere's tackle in the Swans half led to some good passing moves with Giroud who fed the ball to Ram...Goal!! 2 nil. The boo boys knew it didn't they?

Swansea scored a goal to make it nervy towards the end but we held on #TopOfTheLeague was trending.

The interesting thing I find is how some pundits including the rather comical Michael Owen are playing down our chances of being not even Champions, in the top 4. Wow! 8 points ahead of Man Utd, yet Michael Owen reckons they are a much better team than us based on our players performances last season. Ridiculous. We may not win the league but we've put our selves in a very good position from the start, all we have to do is fight to remain where we are. #TopOfTheLeague.

Wait for Podolski, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Walcott, Rosicky, Dia-who? And Arteta isn't even fully back yet. Just wait!

Follow me twitter @caspanova

Pre Weekend Post. Swansea Vs Arsenal

Hey...I've been pretty much occupied with work that I haven't been able to blog about the Arsenal. Well, it's Friday and you know it's the beginning of the weekend, a good time for football lovers and hardworking people to get some time to cool off.

Tomorrow sees two very important games go down. We play Swansea away and hopefully we can keep the momentum going and make it another away game with 3 points in the bag. Can't help but wish we had all our players fit. Santi Cazorla is yet to play alongside Mesut Ozil which is something many Arsenal fans and neutrals can't wait to see. Well, Aaron Ramsey and Matheu Flamini will both have fitness tests ahead of the game and the Manager believes they will both make it for the game.

The other match i alluded to is the Sp*rs vs Chelsea match. A quite interesting match with all the talks about both Managers, the teams ambitions and most importantly for us, their positions on the table. Someone's gotto give something up for us.

There are stories on Sky appreciating Mesut Ozil's contribution to Arsenal since his arrival.

Hopefully our injured players return soon enough to boost the squad and keep us where we wish to be...at the top of the table.

My Prediction for the game is 3:2 to the Arsenal.

Till tomorrow then. have a wonderful weekend and hopefully, 3 points to the Arsenal