Napoli – Arsenal

The opponents won’t be too productive in Naples.

Last season's Champions League for Napoli ended in disaster. Playing as Italy's champions, the Napoli squad collected only eight points in eight matchdays and finished thirtieth in the group stage. One of the team's neighbours in the standings was Copenhagen, and Cypriot Pafos earned one point more. Such results, together with the losing of championship medals in Serie A, led to the resignation of Antonio Conte. In Italy, where a small pool of recognized coaches rotates among the leading clubs, Napoli appointed Massimiliano Allegri to the key post, who by the age of 59 had already had two spells at Milan and Juventus. In the off-season Napoli completed a full transfer of Rasmus Hojlund from Manchester United, and also strengthened several positions, signing Alisson Santos, Vanja Milinković-Savić and other less-known footballers. The Italians parted ways with Romelu Lukaku, who never really clicked in Naples, as well as with Giovanni Simeone and Miguel Gutiérrez. Napoli's season began poorly. After a victory over Genoa in the opening round of Serie A, Allegri's team lost both matches to direct rivals: Como and Inter. Moreover, in the Inter game, the Neapolitans were leading the match 2-1 at one point. Arsenal, last season, experienced the rise of Mikel Arteta's era. The question is whether the Premier League title was the apex of the London club's development or whether it is ready to aim for the European crown. In May, they lacked a more confident penalty conversion in the final shootout against PSG. In the overall standings of the last Champions League season, Arsenal was the only team to win all of its matches. During the last transfer window the Gunners strengthened with Bruno Guimarães, Ezri Konsa, Piero Hincapié and Christos Tsolis, for whom around 227 million euros were spent. The season began with four wins, including over Manchester City in the Community Shield and over Chelsea in the Premier League. Undoubtedly, the visitors are rightly considered favorites for the match, but at their home turf the Neapolitans will not let them run wild. Let's bet that the match will not feature more than two goals.