Stadio Maradona will play host to a crucial fixture between Napoli and Leicester on Thursday evening in the final round of fixtures in the Europa League. It’s still all to play for in Group C with just two points separating bottom-placed Legia Warsaw and Leicester on top of the pile.
The Partenopei sit in third, level on points with second-placed Spartak Moscow and one point behind the Foxes. Luciano Spalletti’s side suffered a 2-1 defeat against Spartak in their last Europa League fixture and will be looking to get back to winning ways here as their hopes of qualification into the knockout rounds hangs in the balance.
Napoli have struggled of late due to a host of key injuries throughout the side and have picked up just one win out of their last five games in all competitions. They suffered a 3-2 defeat at home to Atalanta in Serie A and slip to third in the standings. The Partenopei need a win to ensure that results elsewhere do not decide their future and they could still even end as group winners here.
Leicester have not been on the best of domestic form themselves, picking up just one win in their last five league fixtures. They lost 2-1 away to Aston Villa in their last match as they sit in 11th place in the Premier League table. The Foxes need just a point to secure qualification but they will be looking for the win to seal top spot in Group C.
Napoli vs Leicester Head-to-Head
Napoli and Leicester played out a 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium in the reverse fixture back in September. Goals are expected here as the two highest scoring teams in the group go head-to-head, as well as the fact that all of Napoli’s Europa League games thus far have yielded at least three goals.
Spalletti’s side fought back from 2-0 down in the last clash between the two sides, as a Victor Osimhen brace cancelled out opening goals by Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes. However, Napoli will be without the Nigerian forward for this one as he continues to miss out due to a facial injury.
Napoli Form Preview
The hosts have picked up six wins out of their last ten European home games up against English sides and will be hoping they can take all three points here. They only picked up one point in their opening two matches of their Europa League campaign, drawing to Leicester and losing to Spartak, but they found a win against Legia in the third round. Another win against Legia in round 4 put them on seven points but a defeat against Spartak last time out has left their qualification status in doubt.
Napoli have had a host of injury issues of late and will be without Kalidou Koulibaly, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Lorenzo Insigne, Fabian Ruiz, Victor Osimhen and Stan Lobotka. Kostas Manolas is also a doubt as he nears his return.
Leicester Form Preview
Leicester also picked up just a single point from their opening two Europa League fixtures as they suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat away to Legia in round 2. However, the Foxes turned their form around, picking up four points in their back-to-back games against Spartak Moscow.
They edged a thrilling seven-goal victory in Russia in round 3 before drawing 1-1 back home. Brendan Rodgers’ side come into this one on the back of a comprehensive 3-1 home win against Legia to put them in pole position in Group C but they have not sealed qualification yet.
Leicester also have their fair share of injury issues with Youri Tielemans, Kasper Schmeichel and Ryan Bertrand being doubts heading into this one but they have travelled to Italy. They are also dealing with long-term absentees in James Justin and Wesley Fofana.
Ricardo Pereira is also a big doubt for the Foxes as he has now missed the last five matches due to injury. Ademola Lookman, Daniel Amartey, Kelechi Iheanacho, Jannick Vestergaard, Ayoze Perez, Filip Benkovic and Vontae Daley-Campbell will all be unavailable for selection as they have not travelled due to COVID-19 and illness concerns.
Napoli vs Leicester Predicted Lineups
Napoli (3-4-3): Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorezno, Amir Rrahmani, Juan Jesus; Kevin Malcuit, Piotr Zielinski, Diego Demme, Mario Rui; Hirving Lozano, Dries Mertens, Eljif Elmas.
Leicester (4-2-3-1): Kasper Schmeichel; Timothy Castagne, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, Luke Thomas; Boubakary Soumare, Wilfred Ndidi; Ayoze Perez, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes; Jamie Vardy