Napoli vs Arsenal Prediction, Predicted Lineups & Team News | Champions League

Napoli host Arsenal at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday in the opening league-phase match for both clubs. Our Napoli vs Arsenal prediction favors the visitors, who reached last season's Champions League final and have opened the Premier League season with three consecutive wins.

Napoli have lost their last two matches and conceded five goals in the process, while Scott McTominay and Alessandro Buongiorno are both unavailable. Arsenal arrive after coming from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday, with Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard scoring at the Emirates.

When & Where to Watch (USA)

Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 8:00 PM BST / 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT

Venue: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples (capacity 54,732)

• English: Paramount+
• Spanish: Univision, TUDN, ViX

Napoli vs Arsenal Lineups & Injury News

Napoli vs Arsenal Predicted Lineups

Predicted lineups: Napoli have three changes forced and chosen, with Mathias Olivera in at left back, Billy Gilmour replacing the injured Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Alisson Santos keeping the left-sided role he took at Inter. Arsenal are projected to rotate heavily three days after the Chelsea win and three before Sunderland: Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres all come in, and none of Riccardo Calafiori, Bukayo Saka, Christos Tzolis or Kai Havertz is injured. Treat that one with some caution, particularly Gyokeres, whose only action this season is a scoreless cameo on Sunday.

RotoWire's Champions League predicted lineups are updated throughout the week, with confirmed starting XIs added closer to kickoff.

Napoli predicted starting XI (4-3-3): Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Rafa Marin, Mathias Olivera; Kevin De Bruyne, Billy Gilmour, Stanislav Lobotka; Matteo Politano, Rasmus Hojlund, Alisson Santos

Arsenal predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1): David Raya; Ben White, Ezri Konsa, Gabriel, Piero Hincapie; Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi; Noni Madueke, Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze; Viktor Gyokeres

For the latest availability updates across the competition, see RotoWire's Champions League injury report.

Napoli Team News & Injuries

Anguissa is the new absence and it reshapes the midfield. "He won't be available Wednesday because of an adductor issue," Allegri confirmed, after the midfielder skipped the eve-of-match session. With Scott McTominay also out, Allegri spelled out the arithmetic himself: two of Kevin De Bruyne, Antonio Vergara and Billy Gilmour will join Stanislav Lobotka. The projection takes De Bruyne and Gilmour, which is the combination that gives Napoli the most on the ball and the least in front of their back four.

De Bruyne starting at all is worth noting, because Allegri left him out at Inter purely on match fitness and preferred Vergara. David Neres is the other name to watch: he worked only in the gym on Tuesday with discomfort in his surgically repaired knee and faces a fitness test on matchday, so he is unlikely to feature heavily even if cleared.

Benoit Badiashile's Napoli debut lasted ten minutes at San Siro and his side conceded twice while he was on, which is why Rafa Marin keeps the place next to Amir Rrahmani. Mathias Olivera is projected at left back in place of Leonardo Spinazzola, who is not injured.

Arsenal Team News & Injuries

William Saliba remains out with the back problem he aggravated at the World Cup. He chose managed rehabilitation over surgery and Mikel Arteta has been careful not to put a date on it, saying the progression has been positive but that they need to see how it reacts under load. That absence is the reason the rest of the back line matters so much.

Cristhian Mosquera did not travel. He stayed in England with the hamstring problem he picked up at Villa Park, which is a second straight match missed and confirms Konsa in the side after an impressive first start against Chelsea. Jurrien Timber is the good news: he completed a full first-team session on Tuesday and has been named in the travelling squad, his first squad involvement since the Champions League final in May.

Bruno Guimaraes is fit but was not risked from the start against Chelsea. Arteta said he had "quite a severe pain" after the action at Villa Park, Guimaraes took a place on the bench instead, and Martin Zubimendi started and is projected to keep the place next to Rice.

Everything else is rotation rather than doubt, and there is a lot of it. Viktor Gyokeres made his season debut off the bench against Chelsea without registering a stat and is now projected to lead the line ahead of Kai Havertz, who scored on Sunday. Saka, Tzolis and Calafiori all started that game and none of them is injured. That is a heavy rotation for a European away opener, so the teamsheet is worth waiting for.

Napoli vs Arsenal Head-to-Head Record

These clubs have met four times, and Arsenal have won three. They were drawn together in the 2013-14 Champions League group stage and both won at home, Arsenal 2-0 in October and Napoli 2-0 in December, a group Napoli left on 12 points, the highest total any side has ever been eliminated with.

They met again in the 2018-19 Europa League quarter-final and Arsenal went through comfortably, winning 2-0 at the Emirates and 1-0 in Naples for a 3-0 aggregate. Napoli's only win over Arsenal came at home nearly 13 years ago, and they have never beaten them in a knockout tie.

Napoli vs Arsenal Tactical Analysis

Napoli's season has gone from promising to precarious in eight days. They won 2-0 at Genoa, lost 2-1 at home to Como, then went to San Siro and led Inter 2-0 through Matteo Politano and Rasmus Hojlund inside eight second-half minutes before losing 3-2 to a Lautaro Martinez goal in stoppage time. Three points from three games and five conceded in two is not what Allegri was hired for.

The pattern in that Inter game is the one Arsenal will have watched closely. Napoli were excellent in transition and then could not hold a lead, which is a familiar shape for a side missing its most physical midfielder and its best defender. With McTominay out and Buongiorno out, the middle of this team is technical rather than combative: Lobotka, Anguissa and De Bruyne can all play, but only one of them wants to run.

Arsenal have now won all three of their Premier League matches, and Sunday showed a different side of them. Chelsea scored after only 77 seconds, but Arsenal recovered rather than losing control, equalized through Havertz and won it through Odegaard early in the second half. They have conceded only once in three league games despite playing without Saliba and Timber for much of the opening stretch.

That matters here because Napoli's best chance is probably to make the match uncomfortable early. Arsenal have already shown they can win a controlled away game at Aston Villa and recover after conceding first against Chelsea, which makes it harder to build the case that one strong Napoli spell will be enough.

Napoli vs Arsenal Odds

Arsenal are favored on the road across a range of just ten cents, -120 to -130, and Napoli sit +310 to +333. That is a tighter market than two straight Napoli defeats and an Arsenal side yet to concede a league goal would suggest, and it is the Maradona doing the work. Watch the line if De Bruyne is confirmed to start.

Odds from OddsJam. For more markets across the week, see RotoWire's soccer betting page and the best sportsbook promos.

Napoli vs Arsenal Key Matchups

Rasmus Hojlund vs Gabriel and Ezri Konsa

Hojlund scored at San Siro and is the one Napoli player who consistently attacks the space behind a defense rather than waiting for it to be handed to him, which is exactly the profile that has troubled Arsenal least so far. Gabriel is the constant in a back four that has not conceded, and Konsa is the variable, an experienced Premier League center back who has played a handful of minutes for this club and is now starting European away games. Napoli's best route is getting Hojlund isolated on Konsa rather than on Gabriel.

Kevin De Bruyne vs Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi

If De Bruyne starts, this is the game. He is Napoli's designated penalty taker, their left-sided corner taker and the player everything creative runs through, and he was left out at Inter purely because Allegri did not trust his legs for 90 minutes. Arsenal's answer is a double pivot rather than a single holder, and Zubimendi in particular is being used to close exactly the pocket De Bruyne wants, having done that job against Chelsea. Whether Napoli can find him facing forward, and whether he can last long enough to matter, is most of what decides whether this is a contest.

Napoli vs Arsenal Set-Piece Takers

Arsenal's set-piece responsibility comes from RotoWire's Premier League set-piece takers guide, which covers all 20 teams for 2026-27.

Napoli

• Corners: Kevin De Bruyne from the left, Matteo Politano from the right
• Free kicks: Kevin De Bruyne, then Politano
• Penalties: Kevin De Bruyne, then Rasmus Hojlund

Arsenal

• Corners & free kicks: Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis, Martin Odegaard
• Penalties: Viktor Gyokeres, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Bruno Guimaraes

Napoli's entire dead-ball operation runs through De Bruyne when he plays, and through Politano when he does not, which is what happened at Inter and is where Politano's goal came from. With Anguissa out, Napoli also lose height from their own set pieces. Gyokeres is listed first for Arsenal and has one scoreless substitute appearance to his name, so treat Saka and Odegaard as the men in possession of penalties, and note that Saka is projected to start on the bench here.

Napoli vs Arsenal Prediction

Napoli at the Maradona on a European night is a genuinely difficult assignment, and a side with De Bruyne, Hojlund and Politano will create chances. But they arrive on their worst run under Allegri, have conceded five goals in two matches and are missing two players who normally give the team its defensive spine.

Arsenal have won three from three and have the settled back line Napoli do not, and Napoli have now lost Anguissa on top of McTominay and Buongiorno. The caveat is Arsenal's own team sheet, which rotates five players into a European away opener, and a Gyokeres whose only action all season is Sunday's scoreless cameo.

Score Prediction: Napoli 0-2 Arsenal

Upcoming Fixtures

Napoli host Bologna on Sept. 13 before going to Villarreal in Matchday 2 on Oct. 13, while Arsenal travel to Sunderland on Sept. 12 and host Lille on Oct. 13.

For the rest of the matchday, see RotoWire's Champions League predicted lineups, injury report and team stats.