Arsenal kick off their Champions League League Phase (ew) campaign with a trip to Napoli. The Gunners finished first in the table last season with a perfect 8-0-0 record and rode home-field advantage all the way to the CL final before losing to Paris St. Germain. Napoli finished 30th in the table and did not qualify to the knockouts.
The Italian side are off to a slow start in Serie A, although both losses came to Champions League sides — home to Como and at Inter Milan. The Gunners have won three
of three in the Premier League. As the refrain goes, the Champions League is hard. There are no easy wins, particularly away. Napoli will be particularly motivated to get things headed in the right direction.
The two clubs have met four times in their history. The Gunners have three clean sheet wins, including winning both legs of the most recent knockout tie in the 2019 Europa League. Napoli’s lone win over Arsenal came in a December 2013 Champions League match in which Mikel Arteta was sent off for a second yellow card.
It’s tough to get a read on Napoli. They’ve won the Serie A twice in the past four seasons. They crashed out of the League Phase last season. They finished 11 points off the pace in Italy after being top of the table after 10 matches. Antonio Conte was replaced by Max Allegri over the summer.
Rasmus Hojlund led them in scoring last season with 16 goals across all competitions. Kevin De Bruyne, Matteo Politano, David Neres, and Leonardo Spinazzola provide secondary scoring. Napoli had the oldest average starting XI in Serie A last season and they’re on course to replicate that this year. Their experienced heads won’t be awed by the stage or the shirts across from them. But they may also struggle against the physicality of a top Premier League side — they lost to both Manchester City and Chelsea in the Champions League last season.
Napoli will be without Scott McTominay, which is a big miss for them. The familiar face formerly of Manchester United had 17 goal involvements in across all competitions last year and provides plenty of energy to go along with the scoring he’s added to his game since moving to Italy. McTominay had surgery to correct a minor heart issue that will, somehow, only keep him out of training for two weeks. Luca Marianucci, Giovane, and Alessandro Buongiorno are all out for I Partenopei.
Arsenal will be without William Saliba, who remains sidelined for a while recovering from his back injury. Cristhian Mosquera did not travel with the side to Italy, either. Mikel Arteta doesn’t seem overly concerned about the minor muscle problem that forced him off against Aston Villa. Jurrien Timber is back with the team and in training following the groin problem that kept him out of the World Cup. Bruno Guimaraes is being managed through various knocks and niggles but should be available off the bench, at a minimum.
Arsenal – Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Merino, Ødegaard, Eze, Gyokeres, Saka
Napoli –
WHO: Napoli vs. Arsenal
WHAT: Champions League League Phase MD1
WHERE: Stadio Diego Maradonna, Naples, Italy
WHEN: Wednesday, September 9th 12:00 pm PT | 3:00 pm ET | 8:00 pm BST
US TV: Streaming on Paramount+
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