Napoli 2 Arsenal 0: Slack Gunners are let off the hook after Higuain and Callejon bag a goal apiece as Arteta sees red

As if defeat here didn’t hurt Arsenal enough, the score from  Marseille would have done for them.

Arsenal will be haunted by the name of Kevin Grosskreutz after his dramatic 86th-minute winner for Borussia Dortmund relegated them into second place in the group.

The Champions League can be so unforgiving.

                          

At around 9.15pm everything had seemed hunky dory. Arsenal were on course to finish first in the group with Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Schalke 04, Olympiacos, Galatasaray and Bayer Leverkusen earmarked as potential second-round opponents.

Within minutes the dynamic changed and suddenly Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris  Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona await them in Monday’s draw. It feels inhumane.

Arsenal had looked so assured, so accomplished as they saw off the threat of Napoli’s braying mob up in the stands and the willing figures doing the running for them on the field. Then it went wrong — badly wrong. 

Gonzalo Higuain scored for Napoli after 73 minutes and Mikel Arteta was sent off two minutes later for a second booking. As  captain of Arsenal he ought to know better.

It left his team vulnerable in the closing stages and without a hope of scoring the equaliser that would have kept them top of this group and away from danger.

They conceded again when Jose Callejon, a threat throughout for Rafa Benitez’s team, scored with a sweet lofted ball over Wojciech  Szczesny. Suddenly the atmosphere around Arsenal felt flat.

                                 
                                 
                                 

Wenger will be bruised as he hurtles back to England to prepare for the Saturday lunchtime clash with Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League.

‘The game’s so early that we are flying direct to Manchester,’ joked Wenger, but it could be interpreted as another stab at the fixture list. City and Chelsea are next up, and after the crazy Christmas schedule they play Tottenham in the FA Cup before the Champions League resumes in mid-February. 

                                   

They are all spell-binding fixtures, difficult to read after this, but huge tests all the same.

Last night was a test of Arsenal’s defence and discipline, and they failed miserably in both after Higuain scored with what felt like his first touch of the game.

Wenger warned that the Napoli striker comes alive in the penalty area and he wasn’t wrong. His goal brought this stadium to life.

Until then, Arsenal had been in total control. Wenger claimed Napoli were the better team, but the possession told us otherwise. 

                             
                              
                        
                         
                        

Per Mertesacker was the outstanding figure in the Arsenal team, rising to the occasion with another towering performance. He made two crucial interceptions, calculating shrewdly and sliding in to clear the danger.

Even when he was stranded because of Kieran Gibbs’s unusual mistake down the left, he was alert enough to stand his ground in the centre of Arsenal’s defence as Goran Pandev shot straight at Szczesny.

                             
                             
                             

There is a lesson for Gibbs there. He offers so much going forward with his eye-catching runs,  nullifying the threat of pesky wingers with his attacking instincts down the left.

But twice he was caught straying from his position on a night when all that mattered to Arsenal was making it through to the next round.

Laurent Koscielny gave him a hard stare and after that is was business as usual for Gibbs.
There were even moments in the first half when Arsenal could have nicked the tie, particularly when Giroud was played in down the left.

Napoli goalkeeper Rafael Cabral prepared himself for the worst but Giroud shot straight at him and he was able to beat his effort away to safety. If only it had gone in.

But Arsenal still have some brilliant moments to savour in the Champions League, such as the 2-0 victory at home to Napoli and the famous win in the Westfalenstadion against Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund team.

                                 
                                 

Back to the Stadio San Paolo. Up in the gods the Napoli fans waved their enormous flags relentlessly and their hysterical supporters whistled whenever Arsenal took a touch. Wenger’s team wound them up, sending them into a frenzy by repeatedly passing the ball back to Szczesny. It was stirring stuff.

When they were opened up, as they were in the second half when Pablo Armero was waved through on goal by Arsenal’s defence,  Szczesny came to their rescue.

There was nothing he could do about the goals, his defence leaving him totally exposed when Higuain scored his eighth for Napoli and again when Callejon added the  second in stoppage time.
It felt so cruel, but getting through the group is still an achievement.

                                     
                                    
                                    

If there was one player Arsenal were fearing last night, it would have been Gonzalo Higuain. If Arsene Wenger had taken a quick glance at the history books before the clash perhaps he would have taken heart. 

Because, prior to last night’s clash, the Argentine had never scored a Champions League goal for Real Madrid or Naples against an English club. Of course, there’s a first time for everything!

Ramsey's rest could be a key move

Arsene Wenger rested Arsenal’s undoubted player of the season so far, Aaron Ramsey (below).

And you could see the logic. Elimination last night would have been the result of one of the most dramatic capitulations in Champions League history — not Ramsey’s omission. And with matches against Manchester City and Chelsea on the horizon, the Wales international is likely to prove a key figure. 

Ramsey got the final 20 minutes, but his rest could prove another Wenger masterstroke.