Arsenal v Napoli Betting Tips: Can Auba fire Emery to a first-leg win?

Betting preview, match tips and odds for Europa League

There’s no guarantee Arsenal will be able to get a positive result in Napoli next week. So the Gunners will need to take full advantage of tonight’s quarter-final first-leg at the Emirates.

Unai Emery’s men have been in wicked form on home turf. Only the two Manchester clubs, Tottenham Hotspur and Ostersunds have won in North London since all the way back in March 2017.

But who will come out on top tonight? You can catch the match live on BT Sport 2 from 8:00pm and get the full lowdown with our Europa League betting tips.

Head-to-Head

Arsenal and Napoli have only met twice before. Both of those fixtures came during the group stage of the 2013-14 Champions League campaign. Home form proved the key in both Italy and England.

Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud scored the only goals as the Gunners won 2-0 in North London. Then the roles were reversed in Naples as Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon struck in a 2-0 win for Napoli.

Likely XIs

Napoli: Ospina, Rui, Malcuit, Koulibaly, Maksimovic, Callejon, Allan, Ruiz, Zielinski, Mertens, Milik.

Arsenal: Cech, Kolasinac, Sokratis, Koscielny, Mustafi, Torreira, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Ramsey, Aubameyang.

Emery could welcome back Granit Xhaka, Laurent Koscielny, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Aaron Ramsey into the starting XI. Sokratis is also expected to return following his suspension.

Carlo Ancelotti should recall Kalidou Koulibaly and Nikola Maksimovic to centre-half after the pair missed the defeat against Red Bull Salzburg through suspension. They’ll anchor the backline in a 4-4-2 formation with Dries Mertens and Arkadiusz Milik preferred up-front.