THEY may have overcome a considerable obstacle to the success of their campaign by beating Napoli on Thursday night but there is no time to bask in their high-spirits.

Arsenal will take a 2-0 aggregate lead with them to Italy next Thursday after an impressive, if not fully convincing, performance in the first leg.

Before that, they have arguably an even tougher test closer to home as they prepare for Monday’s trip to Watford and manager Unai Emery is well aware of how big a task it is.

“It will be a very difficult match,” the Spaniard acknowledged, “because we’re away, they’re a good team and also they will feel stronger being at home with their supporters.”

The Arsenal boss has constantly fielded questions about the perceived mental fragility of his squad given the huge gulf in quality of performances seen at home and on the road this season, in particular, last weekend’s dismal 1-0 defeat at Everton.

“We need to be competitive and be strong in our mentality to try to do the same situation that we’re doing at home,” he said. “We need also the first action with the ball, if there is space, attack this space.

“When we’re away, it’s not our mentality, we’re just sometimes losing the speed that we have at home. This is our challenge to find success in our season.”

His side have lost a total of seven games in the Premier League this season, six of which have come away from home. On paper, their run-in is far more favourable than the other sides competing for the last two realistically remaining top-four places.

However, considering that four of their six remaining games are away, Emery has lots of work to do to address the systematic failings.

He is wise to be cautious of facing the Hornets who’re in high spirits after last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley.

Their spectacular injury-time come-back against Wolves, inspired by substitute Gerard Deulofeu and Troy Deeney, will only give the host’s more confidence that they can get a result over the Gunners.

The fixture between these two sides, whose training grounds sit on the same few acres of land in Hertfordshire, has become a rather fiery affair ever since Deeney’s comments that followed his side’s 2-1 win at Vicarage Road last season, when they came from behind the score an injury-time winner.

The Watford captain criticised the Gunner’s fighting spirit, saying they lacked “cajones” and had become a soft touch. His comments are especially prevalent given their current form and the mere fact that the remark was felt so strongly by Arsenal fans is a good indicator of how much truth there was in it.

Next week brings a vital run of three games for Arsenal, culminating against Crystal Palace at home, all of which are very much winnable. However, with the same group of players consistently blowing hot and cold, it’s anybody’s guess as to which side will show up.