Napoli v Arsenal: comparing the clubs, and managing travel chaos

Last season Napoli finished second in the league behind Inter Milan, but above Roma, Como and AC Milan, the last of which qualified for the Europa League.  They were however 11 points behind the title winners and their goal difference of +22 was 32 worse than Inter Milan.   Napoli scored 58 and conceded 36.

Currently however Napoli are 12th in the league with one win and two defeats and in their game on 30 August they lost at home 1-2 to Como.

In their pre-season they beat Genoa awa 0-2, and Catanzaro at home 2-1.   But in the league they have played three, winning one and losing two, scoring five while conceding five, and I think that it is far to say they are not really blowing the opposition away or firing on all cylinders or whatever metaphor you prefer.

Indeed Napoli have been a bit of an up and down team of late.   In 2004 they started a two season run in the third division in Italy, then in 2006/7 they had one season in the second division, (Serie B) and came second, and then started their current 19 season long run in the top flight.

And as the Guardian so poetically points out today, “Back in Clive Tyldesley’s ITV pomp, ties such as Liverpool v Atlético, Napoli v Arsenal, and Real Madrid v Inter moved the dial, filling boozers and column inches.”  Now they say it no more, although I am not sure they realize that TNT is soon to lose its licence which at least is something to talk about.

So to get back to the stats, in the past five seasons our opponents tonight have come third  first, 10th, first and (in 2025/26) second.  That season brought them 23 wins seven draws and eight defeats, scoring 56 and conceding 36.

So we can do a bit of comparing between Arsenal’s finishing position last season and that of Napoli over recent years.  And here for once we are aided by the fact that both the leagues involved have a season of 38 games, so a direct comparison can be made.

Thus we can see that once that Napoli did indeed beat Arsenal’s points tally from last season, back in 202223 but that is the only time that has happened and the season after than they dropped to 10th before bouncing back again.

Now we are of course very early in the season, but we can note an early season friendly for Napoli with the result Napoli 6 , Aris 2.    But they also had a game with Cela Vigo which finished 1-1 at full time, plus a game which finished Napoli 2 Osasuna 1.

But the Italians do seem to be throwing everything at Arsenal this time as there seems to be what the media like to call “travel chaos” all over Europe.  The problem appears to be that air flights in Europe are running constantly at near capacity so the slightest issue can have a massive knock on effect.    

As a result of that, Mikel Arteta and Arsenal had to cancel the pre-match press conference at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Tuesday – although I doubt that Arsenal’s manager would have been too worried about that.   (He does however speak seven languages so I imagine he wouldn’t have had too much to worry about for the occasion).  

Still at least the travel cock0-ups were known about in advance as the group stayed at the Arsenal training centre in Hertfordshire – which is probably more comfortable than being stuck in a airport lounge.  Even if it is first class.  

But it seems that the team got to its destination and its hotel just a bit later than normal, with Uefa cancelling the press conference they normally insist upon on the technical grounds that Arsenal weren’t there.

There has also been confirmation that Jurriën Timber has traveled with the squad and so is back with the rest of the team for the first time this season.   I suspect he might be on the bench for this one.

We do know that Cristhian Mosquera is still out but that Marli Salmon has been included in the travel party – his first trip abroad with Arsenal.  

There is however a problem of pressure for this and all of the eight qualifiers this season, following the last campaign in which Arsenal won every one of the eight  group stage matches.  Anything less than that is likely to bring comments comparing this season with last, in the media.   But as we all know, perfection is not eternal.