Europa League: Emery warns Arsenal stars to forget Napoli first leg result

UNAI EMERY fears Arsenal are in for one of the longest nights of their lives against Napoli – and has warned them to be brave.

The Gunners boss expects an explosive atmosphere in front of a ferocious 60,000 crowd at the notorious Stadio San Paolo, which is built on volcanic rock.

But he believes his side are ready for it as they look to protect a 2-0 lead from the first leg and march on to the semi finals.

Emery said: “We must play with courage and also intelligence. We know 90 minutes here can be long. But we want to play without thinking about the first leg.

“We know it’s going to be a different match. We are waiting for them their best performance, their best capacity here with their supporters, in their stadium, with the atmosphere.

“They have a lot of players with a big quality to push against us and give us a lot of problems but we also have the players to fight against them with our quality.”

Napoli, UEFA Cup winners way back in the days of Diego Maradona in 1989, are unbeaten at home in Europe this season.

They have won four games and drawn the other in this famous stadium, scoring ten goals and conceding only two, and beat Liverpool here in October in the Champions League.

They exited that competition as the best third-placed team of the group stage, and in seven games against Premier League opposition here they have won five.

By contrast, Arsenal have collapsed repeatedly on the road this season and have lost BOTH their away games in the knockout stages so far, to Rennes and BATE Borisov.

Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos knows all about the reputation of Napoli’s fearsome fanbase from a four-year spell playing in Italy for Genoa and AC Milan.