Arsenal vs SSC Napoli Tickets

Arsenal welcome visitors from Naples for this tasty UEFA Champions League fixture that sees two stylish sides go head-to-head in North London. The Gunners were away from the UEFA Champions League scene for six seasons following Arsene Wenger’s departure from the club, but Mikel Arteta has brought the team back to where they are very much at home.

Up until 2022/23, the Premier League side had enjoyed 19 campaigns in the UEFA Champions League, plus two that came before the rebranding of the European Cup, but Arsenal are, of course, still looking to secure their first top-tier European trophy. Under Wenger, the club have repeatedly secured a route out of the group phase, only to then lose to top European sides they then face in knockout action.

Barcelona and Bayern Munich have done just this on four occasions each, as have a host of other teams, and this certainly weighed heavily on fans of the club.

Arsenal vs SSC Napoli Head-to-Head

Arsenal will be confident about facing Napoli as they have a fairly strong record against Italian sides in Europe, and the last time they faced them in European action, they got the better of the Serie A side.

In the first leg of their UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final, a goal from Aaron Ramsey and an own goal from defender Kalidou Koulibaly gave Unai Emery’s side a 2-0 lead to take to Italy, and Alexandre Lacazette scored in the first half to complete a comfortable 3-0 aggregate win.

Six years earlier, they were both drawn in the same UEFA Champions League group, with Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud scoring in a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium in October 2013 and Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon reversing the scoreline on their own turf.

On that occasion, Arsenal secured qualification from the group, while Napoli were demoted to the UEFA Europa League after finishing third.

Napoli’s involvements in the UEFA Champions League have not been as numerous as Arsenal's, but they have nonetheless made an impact on the competition. In 2011/12, they managed to finish second in a group that also included Manchester City, Bayern Munich, and Villarreal before coming up against Chelsea in the Round of 16.

In the first leg at home, they came from behind after Juan Mata had netted for the Blues, with Ezequiel Lavezzi scoring twice and Edinson Cavani bagging another. That held them in good stead for their visit to Stamford Bridge, and when Gokhan Inler scored in West London after Didier Drogba and John Terry had netted for Chelsea, Walter Mazzarri’s side looked well placed to qualify but Frank Lampard pushed the game into extra time, and Branislav Ivanovic won the encounter for the Premier League team when he scored their fourth after 105 minutes.

Five years later, in 2016/17, it was Real Madrid that got the better of Napoli in the Round of 16, the Spanish side winning 6-2 on aggregate, and in 2019/20, FC Barcelona made it three successive failures at that stage of the competition. However, in 2022/23, Napoli progressed their farthest yet.

They topped their group, which included Liverpool, Rangers, and Ajax, and then beat Eintracht Frankfurt to set up a clash with Serie A rivals AC Milan, with the San Siro side edging out Napoli in the Quarter-Finals 2-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal vs SSC Napoli Connections

A select few players have represented both Arsenal and Napoli, with keeper David Ospina one example and another being Brazilian-born Italian international Jorginho.

The intelligent midfielder made a name for himself in Naples, becoming a club hero over the course of his four and a half seasons with the club. He made 160 appearances for the club, scoring six goals, before he moved to Chelsea, and whilst at the Premier League side, he played a key role in the team winning a host of honours, including a UEFA Champions League crown in 2020/21 and a UEFA Europa League two seasons earlier. He then moved to Arsenal in January 2023 and made 16 appearances in 2022/23.