Napoli and Liverpool frequently meet in the UEFA Champions League over the past several years. This will be the third time for them to be in the same group in five seasons, and we can say without hesitation that these two units are sort of old acquaintances. The Italians are one of few teams who had the solution for Liverpool and its style of play in the past, and they aren’t afraid of the Reds like some other crews. Meanwhile, it appears that Jurgen Klopp and his team have certain chemistry problems on the field, with the results at the start of the year being much worse than expected.
Preview
Napoli (+280) started this year pretty well, having three wins and two draws in the Serie A, despite radically changing a team. We need to remind you that Lorenzo Insigne left Naples, as well as Kalidou Koulibaly and several other players.
The most recent win, in Rome against Lazio, 1-2, is a great boost of morale before this match. Napoli wasn’t a favorite at Olimpico, especially following back-to-back draws they had, against Fiorentina and Lecce, but they rose to the occasion and showed everyone a fantastic potential.
The first two games indicated all the power of this unit, which scored nine goals and allowed two. Their attack is excellent with Victor Osimhen, one of the best strikers in Europe, and Napoli scored multiple goals in three of their five Serie A contests.
Liverpool (-115) again disappointed their fans, this time in the Merseyside Derby. A goalless draw at Goodison erased a momentum gained against Bournemouth and Newcastle. Liverpool had its chances to win, but on the other side, Everton did as well, with the Reds’ backline again having problems containing the rivals and their attacks.
Van Dijk and the boys from the defense have just two clean sheets this season in seven games played, which is terrible for their standards. Of all the defenders, we need to say that Van Dijk himself is the most problematic at the moment.
Liverpool didn’t win a game on the road this season, having two draws and a loss so far. The draws were against Fulham and Everton, while the defeat was at the Old Trafford vs. Man United.
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Luciano Spalletti won’t have Demme and Zedadka at his disposal for this game.
Henderson, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Thiago are problematic for this event. Some of them will probably skip it, but that won’t be known until the gameday.
Head to Head Games
In 2018 and 2019, these teams played six games, four in the UCL and two friendly events. Napoli won two UCL games, one was a draw and L’pool posted one victory. Both teams have triumphed once in friendly contests.
Prediction
Our pick here would be both teams to score, and here is why. For the moment, the Reds’ defense is sluggish, while Napoli’s attack is flying high, carried by victor Osimhen who is, we will say it again, one of the best strikers in Europe. Liverpool’s forwards are performing good, they don’t score as many goals as they should, but at some point, that will change. We believe Salah, Darwin and Diaz have enough power to hit the back of Napoli’s net at least once on Wednesday night.
Pick: Both teams to score -190
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Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
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