Napoli v Arsenal - Champions League Matchday 6, last 16 place up for grabs

Since my last post a couple of weeks ago (and where has the time gone?) Arsenal have continued their good form with wins in the Premier League against Hull and Cardiff, and most recently earned a 1-1 draw against Everton as we sit five points clear at the top of the table.

Tonight is all about the Champions League however, and we will qualify so long as we don't lose by three goals or more against Napoli. They looked pretty average against us earlier this season, but proved a tough side in our pre-season friendly all the way back in August.

Pre-season is never much to go by however and current form will certainly prove a vital factor. Rafa Benitez's side are third in Serie A with a number of wins, aided by their earlier seven match unbeaten run at the start of the season. They will enjoy playing in-front of their home crowd tonight and so I wouldn't expect us to find it easy. But we've been scoring for fun this season and we are going their with a mentality to get a win and qualify as top of our group.

That said so are Napoli, who have have scored eight in their last three games and they will have former Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain ready to pounce on any opportunity tonight.

Walcott has returned, and was slowly being reintroduced back into the first team originally around the time of my last post. His pace has obviously given us more in terms of attacking and Bendtner has also featured with Giroud needing a much earned rest.

Fair credit to the Dane too for scoring against Hull. It was clear what the goal meant to him, as he was handed his first Premier League start for Arsenal in 1,005 days!

In our last match however, a draw was probably the fairest result with Everton putting in a wonderful performance against us (somewhat frustratingly), but Ross Barkley will certainly be trying to stake his claim in the England side for next year's World Cup in Brazil. Ozil opened the scoring late on before Everton equalised just two minutes later. They way our defence has been this year though Napoli will do well to break through us tonight.

It will be a great match tonight I am sure, and I fully believe we will progress as group winners. It could be tight but the result will help our momentum and morale as we head into a difficult fixture period.

Ozil scores a brilliant goal to open his Arsenal goal-scoring campaign
in our 2-0 vicotry over Napoli at Emirates Stadium.