In this Champions League Preview, Last Word on Football looks ahead to Napoli’s home game against Liverpool on 3rd October 2018 in Italy.
Liverpool have had an outstanding start to their Premier League and Champions League campaigns while Gli Azzurri have been indifferent at best. Napoli played out a dull goalless draw on match day one against Red Star Belgrade. Liverpool, on the other hand, won a thrilling encounter 3-2 against Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield.
Can Liverpool Maintain Champions League Perfect Start?
Liverpool dropped their first points of the season at the weekend at Chelsea but are still the team brimming with confidence in the Premier League, demonstrated by a wonder strike from a rejuvenated Daniel Sturridge. Napoli have already lost twice in their start to Serie A, losing last time out against Juventus.
Carlo Ancelotti took over from now Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri ahead of the new season and will be looking for maximum points from this fixture. Napoli’s Stadio San Paulo is known for being a cauldron of noise and the Anfield club will need to be ready to quieten the home fans.
Team News
Neither team has major injury problems. Vlad Chiriches, the former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back, remains out through injury whilst Liverpool have Divock Origi back in contention. Virgil van Dijk picked up a slight rib injury against Chelsea but is expected to start.
Champions League Cracker?
Both teams like to play fast, fluid football, so there should be goals in this game. Liverpool can be devastating on the counter attack and Ancelotti will have prepared for that. Jurgen Klopp would have seen from Napoli’s loss to Juventus that they gave the ball away on a number of occasions so you can expect a high pressing game from Liverpool to force errors as early in the game as possible.
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