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Joey - April 9, 2019
Arsenal vs Napoli
UEF A Europa League
Date: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Kick-Off at 20:00 UK / 21:00 CET
Venue: Emirates Stadium (London).
Arsenal host Napoli in the first leg of a mouth-watering Europa League quarter-final on Thursday evening at Emirates Stadium.
Judging by past two rounds, the Gunners have to chase a win in front of the home crowd given they’ve lost both away fixtures to BATE and Rennes so far in the knockout phase.
Unai Emery’s men showed much better performances in their own backyard where they demolished both BATE and Rennes 3-0 in R32 and R16. Arsenal also played incomparably better on the home patch in the Premier League.
The hosts won 14, drew 2 and lost just 1 of 17 league outings at Emirates Stadium. They, however, won’t come into this tie in the highest of spirits after a disappointing display in a 1-0 defeat to Everton on Sunday afternoon away at Goodison.
This will only be the fourth head to head meeting between two sides.
They met each other in the Champions League group phase back in the 2013/14 campaign when outfits snatched a 2-0 home win apiece.
They also played each other in a pre-season friendly in the same year. It ended in a 2-2 draw.
Napoli lost the battle for Serie A title long time ago and they basically had no imperative in any fixture in the last couple of weeks. The lack of motivation was the main reason for a slower run of results as Partinopei claimed just one point in last two league ties against Empoli and Genoa.
Carlo Ancelotti mixed up his cards for Sunday’s league draw to ten-man Genoa. Napoli had a strong campaign in a super tough Champions League group with Liverpool and PSG, but they came third after a last round defeat at Anfield.
The visitors eased past Zurich with two wins in the last 32 round before moving past last term semi-finalists Salzburg 4-3 in aggregate thanks to a 3-0 victory in the first leg at Stadio San Paolo.
The home clash will be the key for Arsenal’s Europa League run. Unai Emery’s men were almost impeccable in front of their fans in all competitions and we will go with the home win as the main betting prediction at the odds of 2.37.
