Leicester City and Napoli will contest one of the most exciting matches in all three of UEFA’s competitions this week on Thursday night at the King Power Stadium. Brendan Rodgers’ team has not started the Premier League season well, losing two of their four games. Leicester City seem to have taken a step backwards as Rodgers has given up on playing the dangerous duo of Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho up front.
Leicester vs Napoli Match Preview
Up first for Leicester City is a strong Napoli team. Napoli are joint first in Serie A after three matchdays. The Partenopei are coming off of a 2-1 come from behind win over rival Juventus at the weekend. Luciano Spalletti’s team should be full of confidence when they arrive in the Midlands.
The Foxes lost at the weekend to Manchester City 1-0. Although the scoreline was low and Leicester City had a goal chalked off due to Vardy being offside, they were overrun by Manchester City. Leicester City conceded 25 shots to the Cityzens.
With both Leicester City and Napoli being two of the strongest teams in this year’s Europa League, the clubs should take the tournament seriously in the group stage. Therefore, Rodgers and Spalletti could play their best squads available.
Leicester City vs Napoli Betting Odds
Leicester City are favourite to take a Europa League Group C matchday 1 win against Napoli. Leading bookies’ best odds for Leicester City to win are at 27/20. The Foxes played in last season’s Europa League reaching the round of 32. There, Leicester City were upset by Slavia Prague in a shock result, losing 2-0 on aggregate.
Napoli also played in the Europa League last season. The Partenopei were also knocked out of the Europa League in the last 32. Spain’s Granada, playing in their first ever European competition, eliminated Napoli 3-2 on aggregate. This season, Napoli are under the management of Spalletti, who took over for former coach Gennaro Gattuso in the offseason.
Leading bookies have Napoli at the best betting odds of 21/10 to win on the road to start the Europa League tournament. Napoli have a 100% winning record this season from three games. They have outscored opponents 6-2 and have kept one clean sheet. Leicester City, on the other hand, have been outscored 6-4. The teams’ best betting odds to draw at full-time are at 5/2.
Leicester City vs Napoli Team News
Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne is expected to miss the trip to Leicester on Thursday due to a bruised knee. The forward came off against Juventus on Saturday after colliding with another player. He should be back for Europa League matchday 2. David Ospina started in goal against Juventus after back-up Alex Meret started Napoli’s first two matches of the campaign. Meret is nursing a back injury, which should give Ospina the chance to start once more.
Stanislav Lobotka is ruled out with a muscular injury and Diego Demme will miss the match too. Spallletti could start new signing Andre-Frank Anguissa along with Fabian Ruiz and Eljif Elmas. Spalletti is still without Napoli’s record goalscorer Dries Mertens along with full-back Faouzi Ghoulam due to injuries. The coach will have Piotr Zielinski available.
Leicester City manager Rodgers has selection headaches ahead of the game. The Foxes have had defensive issues with players suffering from long-term injuries. Ricardo Pereira may not be fit to start the match giving Timothy Castagne the chance to start.
Centre-back Jannik Vestergaard is in line to start although he isn’t fully fit. James Maddison has continued his poor run of form to start the season. He has scored a goal or assisted one in 15 games. Supporters are getting fed up with Maddison’s lack of production. Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho could partner in attack.
Leicester City vs Napoli H2H
Leicester City and Napoli have never played in European competition previously. The two sides will meet this week for the first time and both have injury issues. Napoli are in far better form going into the game after beating Juventus 2-1 at the weekend. Leicester City lost for the second time this season as Manchester City won 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester City have had two of their four games end with both teams scoring goals and over 2.5 goals scored. Napoli have had two of their three games finish with both teams scoring and over 2.5 goals.
Leicester City vs Napoli Prediction
Both teams to score: YES @ 8/13 - BET NOW
Napoli have conceded goals in their last two matches and both teams scored in those fixtures. Playing away from home against a Leicester City team that has strong attack, the Partenopei should concede a goal at the least. Leicester City have defensive issues and our betting tips prediction is for Leicester City to concede a goal for the fourth straight game.
Kelechi Iheanacho to score anytime @ 8/5 - BET NOW
Last season, Kelechi Iheanacho broke out at Leicester City. He scored 12 goals in 25 Premier League games with most of those goals coming in the second half of the season. He hasn’t scored a goal this season in four matches as Rodgers has preferred to once again play Vardy alone as a central striker. Our betting tips prediction is for Iheanacho to start and play well, scoring anytime.
Over 2.5 goals scored @ 3/4 - BET NOW
Napoli’s last two matches in Serie A finished with over 2.5 goals scored. The Partenopei won both of those games by a 2-1 scoreline. Leicester City have seen two of their four matches end with over 2.5 goals scored. The Foxes have allowed six goals in four games while scoring four times. Our betting tips prediction is for this game to finish with more than 2.5 goals scored.
Napoli are in better form than Leicester City, but the pace of the Leicester City attack could find gaps in the Napoli defence. The Foxes should get off to a good Europa League start at home with a win over Napoli.