Report: Napoli 0-1 Arsenal (inc. goal)

Arsenal: Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Saka, Eze, Gyokeres

Subs: Kepa, Meslier, Tzolis, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon

Arsenal started their 2026/27 Champions League group phase with an impressive 1-0 win over Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, thanks to a second half strike from Martin Odegaard.

Mikel Arteta made four changes from the side that beat Chelsea last time out, with Piero Hincapie, Mikel Merino, Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres all coming into the side.

Cristhian Mosquera was absent again through injury with Jurrien Timber also missing despite travelling with the squad.

FIRST HALF

Arsenal began strongly and had Napoli penned into their own third almost instantly, which quietened what was a very lively stadium pre-kick off. Bukayo Saka had the first sight of goal when his attempted (and well executed) bicycle kick went straight at goalkeeper Alex Meret after Viktor Gyokeres found him with a lovely trivela cross.

But Napoli came back into things and Kevin de Bruyne forced David Raya into a sharp stop after breaking in numbers, before Matteo Politano also tested the Spaniard from distance after a sloppy giveaway from Ben White.

Arteta’s men probably should have been ahead after 20 minutes when a deep cross from Saka found Eberechi Eze at the back post, whose clever header back across goal looked perfect for Mikel Merino just six yards out but he headed straight at Meret who tipped over.

From the resulting corner, Ben White suddenly found himself through on goal after more intricate play – what’s a polar bear doing in Arlington, Texas – but he lacked conviction and dribbled the ball straight at Meret.

The game definitely opened up with Napoli looking dangerous in transition, although they weren’t creating anything particularly dangerous and were still defensively compact when Arsenal had the ball in their third.

Minutes before half time, Arsenal should have taken the lead when Martin Odegaard did well to find Saka running through, he did all the hard work in getting by the defender but totally skied his shot with only the goalkeeper to beat. That felt like a theme for most of the first half with every shot flying wide and/or over from good positions.

SECOND HALF

Napoli were forced into a half time change with substitute goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic replacing Meret who suffered an injury during the first half.

Unfortunately for Arsenal their wayward finishing continued into the second half with Piero Hincapie somehow blasting over from two yards out, after he did well to sneak into the box unmarked following good play from Odegaard and White.

With an hour on the clock, the Gunners were totally dominant (76% possession) but they were still struggling to break down a resolute home defence, with their long distance shooting missing the target despite some presentable openings.

That frustration sparked Arteta into action who made two changes, introducing Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis for Merino and Eze. Tzolis – continuing the theme of the night – blasted over from another decent position with his first touch of the game.

Arteta made another double change minutes later with Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke replacing Gyokeres and Saka.

But the Gunners refused to panic despite their profligacy and finally the deadlock was broken when Odegaard arrowed a shot into the far corner (and off the post) after some lovely interplay in close quarters.

Wall passes between White, Odegaard and Tzolis allowed the captain to walk onto a rolling ball and whack a sensational strike off the post – which was past Milinkovic-Savic before he even dived. 0-1.

Napoli needed to open up again after conceding which played into Arsenal’s hands, and they threatened again through Bruno Guimaraes who shot over after some cute one-touch football. Arteta made his fifth and final change straight after with Martin Zubimendi replacing White, pushing Rice to right back to close the game out.

The game should have been wrapped up after Zubimendi won a crunching tackle in midfield before setting three red shirts away in transition, which ended up with Madueke running through but seeing his effort saved – before finding Tzolis who saw his close range strike blocked on the line.

You wondered whether Arsenal would live to regret those missed opportunities and they nearly did when De Bruyne got free down the left, but he opted to cross instead of shooting to the frustration of all the home fans in the stadium.

But the referee eventually blew his whistle and this was a confident, dominant performance from Arteta’s men who were excellent throughout; defending well and looking dangerous having made four changes to the side. The only frustration was that it should have been more comfortable but otherwise, top marks for the visitors away from home.

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