Napoli vs Arsenal: Champions League – prediction, teams, lineups

Who: Napoli vs Arsenal What: UEFA Champions League Where: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, Italy When: Wednesday at 9pm local time (1900GMT). How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 16:00 GMT ahead of our live text commentary stream.

Napoli and Arsenal are paired in titanic tussle to open their Champions League seasons as two league winners – in Serie A and the Premier League respectively – within the last two-season faceoffs.

The Gunners ended a 22-year wait to reclaim the English top flight last season, while also reaching the Champions League final where they were defeated by Paris Saint-Germain.

Napoli were dethroned as Italian champions by Inter Milan last season, but retain a squad capable of striking fear into any side in Europe.

As the defending Serie A champion last season, Napoli was eliminated in the league phase after finishing 30th of the 36 teams in the Champions League.

Massimiliano Allegri replaced Antonio Conte as head coach after last season.

“We need to get 12 points to secure qualification,” Allegri said. “We know we’re up against a team that has just won the Premier League and reached the final of this competition. [Arsenal manager Mikel] Arteta has done well to get his defence organized and they concede very few goals.

“I had the fortune of [coaching] in two finals but I lost both of them,” Allegri said, referring to when he was at Juventus and the 2015 and 2017 finals, which were won by Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively.