North London giants Arsenal are in the driving seat after they secured a comfortable lead over Italian Serie A club Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal tie.
Both teams met at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night for the first leg and it was the Gunners who prevailed with a 2-0 win though it must be pointed out that the tie is still far from over with the second 90 minutes of the tie still to come.
Arsenal have a wretched away record in all competitions in 2019 with just two wins to show for their troubles all year and with this in mind, the Gunners needed to build a commanding lead against Napoli ahead of the second leg scheduled for San Paolo on Thursday.
The Gunners made a fast start and they were rewarded with a quarter of an hour when Aaron Ramsey finished off a flowing Arsenal move off an assist from Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
The home side added a second goal when Lucas Torreira won the ball back in the Napoli half before unleashing a shot that took a deflection off Kalidou Koulibaly and into the net.
Arsenal would be hoping to preserve that 2-0 lead in the quest to secure a semifinal berth in the Europa League.
