Napoli tipped to edge out Leicester in high-profile Europa League clash
Leicester City vs SSC Napoli - 16/09/2021
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The UEFA Europa League returns this week, with English side Leicester City welcoming Italian club Napoli to the King Power Stadium on Thursday night.
Both teams are among the bookmakers’ favorites to win the competition, so they shouldn’t struggle to make it out of Group C.
Elsewhere in the group, Polish champions Legia Warsaw and Russian Premier League runners-up Spartak Moscow will aim to upset the odds.
It’s fair to say that Leicester have made an indifferent start to the 2021/22 season, registering two wins and two losses in the Premier League.
The Foxes have already beaten Wolves and Norwich this term but were outclassed by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Saturday.
Brendan Rodgers’ men managed just a single shot on target, while Man City chalked up 25 attempts and enjoyed 61% possession.
Leicester City suffered a shock round-of-32 exit at the hands of Slavia Prague in last season’s Europa League.
Needless to say, Rodgers’ side will be desperate to make amends for their past mistakes and kick off the new campaign on a positive note.
Coincidently, Napoli also suffered a shock defeat in the round of 32 last term – going down 5-2 to Molde on aggregate.
That said, they have started the new campaign in red-hot form – winning all three of their opening Serie A matches.
After beating Venezia and Genoa, Luciano Spalletti’s team came from behind to clinch a well-deserved 2-1 victory over Juventus on Saturday.
Second-half goals from Matteo Politano and Kalidou Koulibaly sealed the comeback, while Napoli racked up 25 shots and 68% possession.
Not only are Spalletti’s men averaging two goals per game this season, but they have also conceded just two goals in the process.
Head-to-head: This is the first-ever meeting between Leicester and Napoli, meaning there are no previous H2H results to analyse.
Team news: Injured Leicester trio Nampalys Mendy, Wesley Fofana and James Justin are unavailable for Thursday’s clash.
As for Napoli, Diego Demma, Faouzi Ghoulam, Alex Meret and Stanislav Lobotka are all currently sidelined through injury.
Although Leicester have enough quality to go deep into this year’s Europa League, Napoli are expected to edge out the Foxes on Matchday 1.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score on Thursday. However, Napoli should come out on top.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
UEL
273241
2
1 - 2
2.56
16°
3.08
2.40
3.45
3.08
1
-1
-1
2 - 2(1 - 0)
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