Liverpool vs Napoli Match Preview and Prediction

By John


 After suffering yet another devastating loss over the weekend, going down 2-1 against Leeds to put an end to their 15-game unbeaten run at home (W11, D4), Liverpool are in desperate need of another magical UEFA Champions League (UCL) night at Anfield. Already securing progression from Group A might help ease some pressure on under-fire manager Jürgen Klopp, who has now led Liverpool to the UCL Round of 16 in all his six attempts, in what is the club's longest ever run of consecutive qualifications.


Klopp will now embark upon his 100th UCL managerial appearance, becoming the first German coach to reach the milestone. A victory to mark that landmark occasion would be welcomed, and the odds should be stacked firmly in his favour considering Liverpool's seven meetings with Napoli have never ended in an away victory, whilst his side have won nine of their last 13 UCL home matches (D2, L2).


Napoli have all but clinched top-spot in the group after accumulating a perfect record so far (W5), with the only way they can be displaced being if they lose by 4+ goals after their 4-1 win in the reverse fixture. Goodluck keeping Napoli out if you do manage to score that many though, as their 20-goal haul in the group stages so far is the most of any team.


A 4-0 win over Sassuolo at the weekend proves Luciano Spalletti's men are truly firing on all cylinders, having now won their last 13 matches. Napoli fans will hope they have another victory left in the tank for Anfield to break an unwanted record, as the Blues have fallen short of victory in each of their 11 previous attempts away to English opposition (D3, L8).


Players to watch: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah has scored six times in this season's UCL, taking him to within two goals of Didier Drogba's UCL record of 44 goals for an African player in the competition. Napoli midfielder Piotr Zieliński ran the show in the last H2H, grabbing two goals and an assist, and he will be looking to contribute again here given four of his last six goals have come away from home.


Hot stat: Napoli have opened the scoring in ten of their last 12 matches.

Fottennis Prediction: Liverpool 2 Napoli 2

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