Leicester v Napoli betting tips: Tough Europa League start for Foxes
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Leicester v Napoli betting tips and odds
Leicester host Napoli on Thursday night in the opening round of the Europa League group stage in a battle between the joint-11/1 favourites to win the competition.
Both teams were knocked out in the round of 32 last season but City are 5/4 to win at the King Power Stadium.
The Italians have made a great start to the Serie A season, though, so let’s check out some of the options in our Leicester v Napoli betting tips.
Match Odds
Leicester warmed up for their first Europa League game of the season with the toughest possible test, a 1-0 defeat at home to Premier League champions Manchester City, and it wasn’t that much easier for Thursday’s opponents, who beat Juventus.
Napoli parted ways with head coach Gennaro Gattuso in May after his side failed to beat Verona on the last day of the season which meant they dropped into fifth place, missing out on the Champions League.
Former Roma and Inter Milan coach Luciano Spalletti took over the reins and has made a superb start, with Saturday’s 2-1 victory over the Old Lady maintaining their perfect start to the season.
Keep building 🧱 pic.twitter.com/tYiwomraCO
— Leicester City (@LCFC) September 13, 2021
Gattuso generally played strong teams in the Europa League so it remains to be seen how Spalletti will approach the selection process but they catch the eye at 2/1 for a winning start.
That said, the game looks too close to call so it may pay dividends to look at the over 2.5 goals and both teams to score market which can be backed at 19/20.
A draw is 5/2 and we go 3/1 on that outcome with goals thrown into the equation as one of our Leicester v Napoli betting tips.
In the #GetAPrice specials, both teams to score, over 2.5 goals and either team to win is available at 5/4.
Talking Tactics
Brendan Rodgers named a strong side to face City on Saturday during which Ademola Lookman made his debut off the bench while centre-backs Jannik Vestergaard and Jonny Evans got an hour and 30 minutes respectively having recovered from foot injuries.
Ricardo Pereira, fit again after a hamstring injury, was an unused substitute as Timothy Castagne took the right-back role in a 4-2-3-1 formation in which James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Marc Albrighton played behind Jamie Vardy.
Napoli duo Dries Mertens and Faouzi Ghoulam have returned to training but Lorenzo Insigne trained in the gym on Monday having picked up a knock against Juve.
Spalletti favours a 4-3-3 formation with either Insigne, Matteo Politano, Hirving Lozano and Victor Osimhen taking one of the three attacking roles.
Goalscorer Odds
Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho are the 4/1 favourites to get the ball rolling and 6/4 to find the net while Barnes and Maddison are 6/1 and 13/2 to break the deadlock.
📊 Juventus are the only #SerieA team that @kkoulibaly26 has scored against more than once! 😍
💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/zFMA94kFUW
— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) September 12, 2021
Insigne is 6/1 to draw first blood, the same price as Lozano, who came on as a sub at the weekend, but Osimhen is the 11/2 favourite in our Leicester v Napoli betting tips.
Politano scored the equaliser on Saturday and is 8/1 and 14/5 in the two markets while centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly is 12/1 to score as he did against Juve.
Match Info
Where: King Power Stadium
When: 20:00, Thursday 16th September
How to watch: BT Sport
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
