Europa League: Leicester City vs. Napoli Preview, Odds, News, Prediction

The Foxes turn their attention to UEFA Europa League as they host Napoli on Thursday night. The loss against Manchester City definitely hurts Brendan Rodgers and his boys, but there is no time to lament over it. The Italian powerhouse comes to Kings Power Stadium, eager to prove its solid form and continue the winning streak. This might be the biggest game of Thursday’s program, and it deserves to be analyzed on our website.

Preview

Leicester (+130) lost to Manchester City this weekend. It was a minimal defeat at home, but we need to say that the Foxes had their chances to score and possibly take all three points. They played well, and that is something that could encourage Rodgers before the next challenges.

Interestingly, both matches at Kings Power saw low efficiency, under 2.5 goals, while both of Leicester’s road events were over 2.5 scores and hits on both ends of the field. The FA Cup winners added one more trophy to their collection, defeating Manchester City in the Community Shield.

This team plays tough football, and is very strong in the backline. Vardy is doing most of the work in front of the rival’s goal, with the massive help of Harvey Barnes and James Maddison, who are the motors of the team.

Napoli (+210) beat Juve in the great derby on Saturday night, 2-1, boosting its morale before this matchup. Yet, we are not sure how they rank Europa League and would they have some big competitive motive. Over the recent few years, the Italian teams spoke about the fact that they aren’t that interested in playing in this competition. The same goes for the English teams too.

The team from Naples has three wins in three Serie A games, in all of them scoring two goals. On the other side, the only event they kept a clean sheet was against Venezia in the opening round, 2-0.

Luciano Spalletti likes to play open football, even though he had some stints that might tell the opposite. This squad has all the resources for him to set up such tactics, and as you saw, for now, Napoli’s games include a solid number of scores.

Latest News

Justin is out for the home team, the same as Fofana and Mendy, and they are out of the protocol.

Insigne probably won’t play for the guests, and the same applies to Ghoulam and Meret while Lobotka, Demme, and Cioffi aren’t available.

Head to Head Games

These two sides didn’t meet until now.

Prediction

This match will be highly interesting. Both coaches probably won’t send out the best teams because they value their domestic championships more than Europa League. Anyhow, in our opinion, this is a perfect match for a moderate efficiency, meaning two or three goals. The odds on this pick are -105, and that feels suitable from this perspective. Don’t go with the full-time result, because this match could go either way, and it isn’t worth risking your money.

Pick: Moderate efficiency 2 or 3 goals