Wounded Foxes to be hunted by ruthless Napoli
This Thursday sees the commencement of the group stage of the 2021/2022 UEFA Europa League, and the two favourites in Group C will duke it out at the King Power Stadium. Leicester City have had a decidedly mixed opening to their season, suffering defeats to West Ham United (emphatically) and Manchester City (dominated in all metrics but the scoreline), and having their squad decimated by injuries to key personnel. Brendan Rodgers will attempt to rally his troops for the visit of Napoli, and the away side have made a flawless start to Serie A, including a morale-boosting victory over Juventus. Read our preview here:
Attack, attack, att-Dak!
The long-term injury hugely promising and coveted centre back Wesley Fofana sustained in the Community Shield triumph over City necessitated a shuffling of the deck at the heart of defence; to date however, no watertight combination has been found, and Turkish stopper Çağlar Söyüncü has had a torrid time for both club and country thus far, being culpable for a number of mistakes directly leading to goals and seldom far from the referee's notebook. Rodgers is expected the roll the dice in attacking areas, which might mean starts for both Kelechi Ihenacho and summer signing Patson Daka, with the former looking for the second balls and to hold up play for the inverted wingers to run into space. The latter is being gently eased into the pace of the Premier League, but, with only 26 minutes under his belt, European competition looks tailor-made to make his proper bow in front of supporters, with the Europa League less of a priority than another tilt at the top four.
Koul as you like
Speaking of the treatment table, head coach Luciano Spalletti will be without five first teamers for Gli Azzurri's trip to England. Former Arsenal custodian David Ospina will continue to deputise in goal whilst Alex Meret is out, and club legend Dries Mertens is another prominent absentee from the matchday roster. Left-footed Polish playmaker Piotr Zieliński did recover from his woes in time to feature in the Juve win however, and much of the play will go through him. Towering centre back Kalidou Koulibaly will need to be at his best to cut out the deep balls in behind the backline, especially by the likes of Youri Tielemans. The Senegalese national team captain is deadly in the opposition penalty area in spite of his goal count not reflecting that, and he'll have to be very closely watched.
Spall-ing it out
If there is an ideal time to play the hosts, this could be it. The victors are likely to take the cudgels in the group, and the vanquished will still be favourites to nab second spot on paper. Napoli are on a high that has seen them rise to joint top in their domestic league, and they ought to have enough to dispense with a patchwork Foxes side. betway have odds of 3.10 for an away win.
