Key events
49 min: To a chorus of impatient whistling, Arsenal stroke the ball around, this way and that, 30 yards from the Napoli goal. There’s no way through the defence.
47 min: Milinković-Savić has got the mother of all hipster’s beards. He looks like he should be behind the counter at a record store, or running a micro-brewery. While he finds his feet at one end of the park, Napoli make good down the other, and Gilmour takes a whack from distance. Easy for Raya.
Napoli get the second half started. Milinković-Savić has replaced Meret in their goal. “As Big Ron used to say, ‘If you look good, you play good’,” begins Alan Baverstock. “Well, Arsenal are looking crap in all red with white sleeves once again, as anyone would, so don’t expect too much. So close, yet so far from Bill Shankly’s switch to all red at Liverpool: ‘The players looked like giants,’ he said, ‘And we played like giants.’”
Half-time fag break postbag … which for some reason is tobacco-infused.
“Well, sir, can they boogie without the Great Scott? Presumably Mr McT is in the stand somewhere, a crafty fag on the go, cupped between thumb and index finger and held behind the back, just in case the cameras spot him” – Justin Kavanagh
“Just checking: Gyökeres is still there, right? He hasn’t gone for a lie down or some mid-half snus?” – Adam Walker
“I understand that winning games builds psychological momentum, but I feel that Arteta could use some of these essentially meaningless league phase matches to give his most overworked players the night off. Does Rice need to be on the field? Yeah, if you want to maximise your chances of winning this game. But given how exhausted he looked at the end of last season, it might be good to rest him” – Kári Tulinius
“Can you put that photo of Kai Havertz back up? At least then Arsenal fans will have a useful striker to look at. And it’d be no more immoble than the one on the pitch” – Charles Anaki [Click here to relive some of that Hot Havertz Action]
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HALF TIME: Napoli 0-0 Arsenal
It’s been good, but not great.
45 min +2: Saka goes long. There’s a bit of pinball, before Hincapie tries to catch Meret out with a cheeky threaded shot towards the bottom left. There’s no pace on the shot, and it’s easy for the keeper.
45 min +1: The first of two additional minutes, and Konsa’s sheer determination down the right wins Arsenal a corner. Just enough time to take it!
45 min: Arsenal should be leading. Odegaard slides a pass down the inside-right channel to release Saka into the Napoli box. Saka is one on one with Meret, and looks for the top left, but gets it all wrong, the ball sailing miles off target to the left. The offside flag pops up to momentarily save Saka’s blushes … but replays show he was comfortably onside. That’s a huge opportunity passed up.
43 min: The free kick, then. A big faff, and a big waste. But Arsenal come again, Odegaard curling in from the left. Meret, who looks fit and healthy to the naked and untrained eye, punches clear acrobatically.
42 min: This game has slipped into Basketball Mode. Saka with a dribble down the right. His cutback for Rice is intercepted. Olivera probes down the left but can’t get past Konsa. Eze scampers up the other end, and is skittled by Gilmour, who goes into the book. A free kick 30 yards out, just to the left of centre.
40 min: Olivera swats Saka off the ball and sends Santos off on a wild run down the left. Santos nearly gets the better of Konsa … but the Arsenal defender somehow sticks to his side like glue, and eventually does some swatting of his own. Santos goes over, and wants a free kick, but he’s not getting one.
39 min: Politano’s in-swinging shot from the right flies straight at Raya. Arsenal counter, and Saka hoicks a dreadful effort miles over the bar.
38 min: … though having said that, Napoli’s back-up keeper Milinković-Savić is furiously prepping in the dugout. Meret puts his boot through a clearance, meanwhile, so perhaps all’s well. Let’s see.
37 min: Meret is fine to continue, and restarts the game. Everyone refreshed.
36 min: The game doesn’t restart immediately, because Meret has a problem. On come the physio. Everyone else takes the opportunity to snorkel some isotonic treats.
35 min: Rice buys a ticket from 25 yards. High and wide.
34 min: Hojlund chases a pass down the inside-right, holds off Gabriel, and lays off to De Bruyne, whose shot balloons off Gabriel and out for a corner … but Napoli don’t get the set piece, because the flag goes up for offside. It was a close one, though, Hojlund pretty much level with Gabriel at the start of the chase. Had Napoli scored from the move, VAR would have had some work to do.
32 min: Hincapie sends a cross in from a tight spot on the left … and nearly catches Meret out at his near post. Meret does well to claw the ball out and away. Not entirely sure Hincapie meant that, but if he did, it was a super-cheeky gamble and nearly paid out.
30 min: Santos crosses from the left and nearly finds De Bruyne in the middle, six yards out, but Konsa is on point to block and clear. Both teams searching furiously for the opener.
29 min: Eze cuts in from the left and drags a shot wide left. He grimaces and sucks in some air. It was a good chance. Arsenal come again, Saka jinking in from the right before shanking a weak effort wide left. Another good chance spurned.
27 min: Saka plays a ball in from the right to tee up Merino on the edge of the Napoli D. Merino takes a heavy touch, allowing De Bruyne to nip in, steal the ball, and draw a foul. You’ve seen yellows given for less, but if this referee wasn’t going to book Eze earlier, he’s certainly not going to show one for that.
25 min: Time and space for Politano out on the right. But not that much time and space. He faffs around, and when he eventually decides to attempt a cross, he’s closed down by Hincapie.
23 min: … Rice dribbles a weak shot straight at Meret. Napoli break quickly again, and Santos takes aim from a tight angle on the left. It’s blocked easily by White.
22 min: Saka cuts in from the right and crosses long. Eze heads back across the face of goal for Merino, who rams a header goalwards from six yards. But it’s straight at Meret, who tips over. Great save, but the keeper shouldn’t have been given the chance to make one. You’d expect Merino to bury that. And from the corner …
20 min: A long ball down the middle nearly releases Hojlund on goal. Gabriel grapples with the striker and does just enough to put him off. Both teams look good going forward.
19 min: De Bruyne spins around Eze’s flailing leg and is brought down. No idea why Eze isn’t booked, but the Arsenal player gets away with it. De Bruyne is fuming.
18 min: Politano finds some space down the right but his looping cross is easy pickings for Raya. Better from Napoli, though; the hosts are working their way into this match after a slow start.
16 min: De Bruyne should release Santos on the left but tries a trickier pass for Hojlund down the middle. It’s no good. The ball breaks to Politano, who shoots harmlessly from his position on the right.
15 min: Napoli spend some time patiently passing around the back. Suddenly Di Lorenzo is released down the right. He rolls infield for De Bruyne, who pearls a shot straight at Raya. It’s too hot to handle. Raya spills, but Santos can’t get to the rebound. White pings it off the Napoli man and it’s a goal kick.
13 min: Eze is clipped out on the left and Odegaard sends the free kick diagonally into the Napoli box. Gabriel doesn’t win the header. Napoli clear. Politano acrobatically keeps the ball in play out on the left, but only manages to set Arsenal off on the attack again. The ball’s sent into the middle, where Saka bicycle kicks straight into Meret’s arms. Arsenal full of confidence.
11 min: Arsenal continue to stroke it around nicely, and after a few triangles down the right are completed, Saka releases Rice into the box with a sliderule pass. Rice’s attempt at a cutback is no good, and hacked clear.
9 min: One corner leads to another, and from the second, Napoli tear clear on the counter. Hojlund bombs up the inside-right channel and feeds Santos on the overlap. Santos enters the box and slices a cross over the bar and out for a goal kick. That was a good opportunity for Napoli.
8 min: It’s all the all-reds of Arsenal in these early exchanges. Eze has a whack from distance and the ball deflects out for the first corner of the match. Rice to take, with Napoli having left four players on the halfway line, Chelsea-at-the-weekend style.
7 min: Some more action for White down the right. He chases what looks like a lost cause and digs out a cross. Easy for Meret, with no Arsenal player anywhere near the keeper.
6 min: Odegaard and White combine neatly down the right and find Saka in a small pocket of space inside the Napoli box. Saka has nanoseconds to shoot, and his effort is easily and effectively blocked. Nice move, though.
4 min: De Bruyne finds a little bit of space out on the right, and curls a low cross into the Arsenal box. There’s no Napoli presence within, and it’s easy for Raya.
2 min: Arsenal are wearing red shorts. Full marks for considering those with colour blindness, and acting with compassion. It doesn’t look good, mind. It’s just not Arsenal.
After a moment to remember the victims of the devastating floods in Nepal, Arsenal get the ball rolling. A blistering atmosphere at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona; did anyone expect anything else?
The teams are out! Napoli wear sky blue, with a fancy gold crest that celebrates their 100th anniversary. Arsenal sport their first-choice red shirts, and would do well to change their underwhelming modern badge back to the Victoria Concordia Crescit version, or perhaps the Art Deco hexagon from the 1930s, but good luck getting that past the copyright lawyers. Anyway, I’ve gone off piste. Massimiliano Allegri and Mikel Arteta are hugging. We’ll be off in a minute.
Mikel Arteta speaks to TNT Sports. “We were lucky [regarding the flight over] … I am sure it was much worse for many tourists … [Hincapié, Eze, Gyökeres and Merino] deserve to play … they train really well … every time they have been on the pitch as finishers they have made an impact … they fully deserve to start the game … I could not wait to start playing in the Champions League again … after the last days we had in Budapest, to lift ourselves up and go again … start the journey again … [Napoli] have a lot of experience and quality … a coach with massive experience in the competition … we are ready … to be ourselves and win the game.”
Pre-match postbag. “Why have such a stacked squad if you can’t make Saka and Rice the ones rested? The fact that it’s early in the season doesn’t really work because their summer was a bunch of extra work” – Zach Neeley
“Although Kai won’t feature among the starters, your chosen pic does offer plenty of food for thought, prompting one to wonder how much expert consideration has gone into crafting all the various hair zones on his head, or how it is that someone with a bag can have so many loose items on his person?” – Dr Jordan Pickering
Fancy a deeper dive into Napoli’s dispiriting defeat to Inter last weekend? Nicky Bandini has all the details.
Arsenal make four changes to their starting XI following the 2-1 victory over Chelsea. Typically, having just posted a large picture of Kai Havertz, he’s one of four players stood down, along with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christos Tzolis and the increasingly influential Riccardo Calafiori. Piero Hincapié, Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyökeres – the latter making his first start of the season – are in.
Napoli have a few faces familiar to Premier League fans in their starting XI. Billy Gilmour, formerly of Chelsea, Norwich and Brighton; Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne; and erstwhile Manchester United striker Rasmus Højlund. Scott McTominay, also once of Old Trafford, is out until next month, having recently had successful surgery to treat an irregular heartbeat.
The teams
Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Marin, Olivera, Gilmour, Lobotka, De Bruyne, Politano, Hojlund, Alisson Santos.
Subs: Contini, Milinkovic-Savic, Favasuli, Badiashile, Neres, Lucca, Vergara, Beukema, Spinazzola.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie, Merino, Rice, Saka, Odegaard, Eze, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Meslier, Tzolis, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon.
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Worry not, people. While this …
… meant this happened …
… Arsenal are in the house. As proof, here’s Kai Havertz arriving at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Not 100 percent sure the Louis Vuitton bag pairs well with the Adidas clobber. The lanyard definitely clashes.
Preamble
Arsenal came so close last time round. But now they’ve got that Premier League monkey off their back, perhaps this season will finally be their moment to fill that conspicuous big-eared gap on their roll of honour. Because having slaked their domestic thirst, they’ve spent the first few games of this campaign with supreme confidence, swanning around like they own the place, which at the moment they kind of do. Spirits are at an all-time high …
… and that’s before taking into consideration that near miss last season. Because while Arsenal’s 2025-26 Champions League tilt ended in despair, the bare facts are nevertheless something to take pride in: a 100-percent record in the league phase, unbeaten in regular time over the whole piece with a W11 D4 record, and the best defensive record (just seven goals conceded, nine clean sheets) of everyone. And having gone toe to toe with PSG, the best team in Europe, there’s little left to fear. Apart from perhaps another penalty shootout, that is, but that’s a bridge to cross sometime in the future.
Napoli by contrast have won just two of their last ten games in the Champions League, and failed to get past the league phase last year. They’ve lost their last three Champions League matches against English teams, and three of their four previous fixtures against Arsenal. And while the Gunners have started their domestic campaign thrillingly, Gli Azzurri have begun Serie A miserably, following up a home defeat to Como by frittering away a two-goal lead against Inter and coming away with nothing.
So all signs point to an opening victory for last year’s runners-up. And yet Mikel Arteta won’t be taking anything for granted, partly because that’s just not how he rolls, but mainly because he’s already tasted defeat in Naples as a player, getting himself sent off in the process. Oh Mikel! Kick-off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. It’s on!