One of the top games in matchday 2. It’s Napoli hosting Liverpool! Napoli are going to be in desperation of a win after dropping 2 points against Red Star Belgrade and in a group where you still have Liverpool and PSG that’s a very bad result. In front of their fans, Napoli are hardly beatable but with Liverpool being the attacking juggernaut this is going to be a stern test for the Italian club. This shapes up to be a very entertaining match for sure!
Key Facts
Napoli hold a 100% record at home this season. 3 played 3 won.
Lorenzo Insigne is Napoli’s top scorer this season with 5 (2nd best in Serie A)
Napoli have only won 2 of their last 9 Champions League matches.
The last time that Napoli hosted English opposition was Man City last season and lost 2-4 at home.
6 of 8 Napoli’s matches in all competitions had over 2.5 goals.
Napoli have scored at least one goal in 26 of their 29 Champions League matches.
Although Liverpool have been keeping clean sheets at home, they’ve only kept 1 clean sheet in 4 away games.
Mane and Sturridge are Liverpool’s tied top scorers with 4 goals each. Firmino and Salah have 3 in all comeptitions. Lots of threat.
Liverpool scored 20 away goals in 6 away matches in the Champions League last season.
Liverpool beat Napoli 5-0 in a pre-season friendly back in August. Not that it really matters though.
Liverpool have a 3W 1D 0L away from home record this season in all competitions and they’ve faced the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham already.
Team News
Napoli: Napoli don’t have many injuries to report apart that Chiriches is still out and so is Younes. They have pretty much the strongest 11 available to play here against Liverpool and the likes of Mertens, Hamsik, Insigne, Callejon are all expected to start. Ancelotti used a very strong 11 during the weekend against Juventus and is expected to keep that line-up the same regardless of the defeat.
Liverpool: Liverpool have a healthy squad coming into this match. Virgil Van Dijk has returned on Saturday and looks fully fit again. Elsewhere there’s not much to report. We’ll see a similar side to the one that played against Chelsea and we should still see the front 3 of Mane, Firmino and Salah start together even with the form that Sturridge is showing. In midfield, Klopp has preferred Henderson over Keita and will most likely choose his captain to start again.
Betting Tips and Predictions
We have to look at goals here. Napoli have nowhere to go, they will have to get forward because a win is needed massively to put themselves in a better position after dropping points to Crvena Zvezda and that should open up games in their back line which Liverpool should exploit. Over 3.5 goals at 2.75 holds a lot of value, and if you want to go safer with over 3.0 goals you can still get good odds at 2.15. We’re looking at a game that’s going to feature Mertens, Insigne, Callejon, Mane, Salah, Firmino and possibly Sturridge and that is a ton of top goal scoring talent. Liverpool’s defence might be the only thing that stands in the way of an over, but we’ve seen them get punished in away games before. We’re also going to back a Liverpool win at 2.15 simply because Napoli’s record in big games isn’t very good and their backline is too suspect to believe that they can stop Liverpool. If Liverpool put their chances away they’ll win this match 1-3.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Napoli Win – 3.40
Draw – 3.60
Liverpool Win – 2.15
KICK OFF – 3rd October 2018 – 8pm UK Time
