Two key Napoli players miss training ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League clash

Arsenal’s Champions League campaign gets underway on Wednesday night.

Mikel Arteta’s side travel to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples to face Massimiliano Allegri’s Napoli.

Not that you need reminding but last season, Arsenal reached the final before gut-wrenchingly losing to PSG on penalties. They will be aiming to go one step further this time out.

It’s a difficult start ahead of them though, on paper. Napoli are packed with familiar Premier League faces — Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne and Rasmus Hojlund among them. They’ll be well organised, aggressive and difficult to break down on home soil.

But Arsenal may have been handed a small advantage.

According to Pazzi Di Fanta, neither Frank Anguissa nor David Neres took part in Napoli’s Tuesday morning training session a day ahead of the match. The report also confirms that McTominay will undergo surgery, ruling him out of the Champions League opener entirely.

It remains unclear whether Anguissa and Neres are carrying physical issues or whether their absences were simply precautionary. Napoli manager Allegri is expected to provide more information at his press conference later on Tuesday.

Anguissa is Napoli’s midfield engine and without him their midfield is significantly weaker. Neres, meanwhile, is one of their more established winger options, though he has been coming on in a more central role under Allegri. Either way, without both, Arsenal would be even stronger favourites.

Napoli finished last season’s Champions League League Phase with just eight points, failing to progress. They will be desperate for a strong start in front of their own fans, but Arsenal will be determined to stop that happening.

Arsenal are playing them at good time too. Napoli are on a run of consecutive defeats having lost to Cesc Fabregas’ Como at home before a defeat to Inter Milan in Serie A.

The way Arsenal are playing, they have to be confident. But they may even make changes of their own. Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, and Martin Zubimendi are among those that you’d think will be given their first starts of the season, with games coming thick and fast from here on in.