Today at 2:45 p.m. ET, Arsenal and Napoli square off in 2013 UEFA Champions League Group F action from Emirates Stadium in England. The game can be live streamed here.
Arsene Wenger hopes that his club will continue its strong start today when it hosts Napoli during its attempt to continue its great start to the season in Champions League Group F play.
Arsenal topped Fenerbahce in the playoffs to reach the Champions League group stages for the 16th season in a row, and defeated Marseille in the opener of its European campaign. The club is hoping to pick up a huge three points heading into a double header with Borussia Dortmund.
"We are in a tough group. If you look at the teams Marseille, Dortmund and Napoli, they all play at the top of their league and in big football countries, so you feel of course for us it is vital to continue our run and to come out of the group,'' said Wenger per ESPN. "But you know as well the importance of the home games will be decisive in a group of that quality.''
Rafael Benitez looks to lead his Napoli squad to victory this afternoon after a successful stint as interim manager of Chelsea, and Wenger believes that the manager deserves some respect.
"He is a top class manager, he has proven that, so when you are confronted with his teams, you know it will always be difficult,'' Wenger said per ESPN. "But we are up for it, we want to do it and we have the confidence to do it.''
The respect works both ways as Benitez called Wenger "the best manager" after saying he's not surprised about Arsenal's successful start.
Arsenal received some good news on the injury front as Tomas Rosicky, who has been hampered with a hamstring ailment, is scheduled to return to the club for today's game. While that's good news, the injury updates aren't all good for the team as there is a list of players sidelined heading into the game against Napoli.
Forward Theo Walcott heads a list of the injured as he will be sidelined for up to four weeks after having surgery to fix an abdominal problem. He joins an injured group that includes Santi Cazorla (ankle), Yaya Sanogo (back), Lukas Podolski (hamstring), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Abou Diaby (both knees), who will all be sidelined.
After dropping its opener to Aston Villa, Arsenal has gone on quite a winning run to place itself back in contention, which is no surprise to Benitez as he said he wasn't shocked to see Arsenal on top of the Barclays Premier League. Arsenal's win over West Brom in a penalty shoot-out in the Capital One Cup also didn't surprise the Napoli manager.
"I am expecting a strong team because I think Arsene Wenger is the best coach in the Premier League,'' said Benitez, according to ESPN. "They have signed good players, at this point everything is going well for them. ''Hopefully he can win [the Champions League], but another year, not this one."
Napoli will look to defeat a team coached by a man their manager say is the best in the league while Arsenal will look to continue its dominance this afternoon.
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