apoli are hoping to kickstart their UEFA Europa League campaign

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Napoli are hoping to kickstart their UEFA Europa League campaign on a positive note when they take on AZ Alkmaar on Thursday. The 2020/21 edition of the UEFA Europa League gets underway on Thursday with Napoli starting their campaign with a home game against AZ Alkmaar.

The UEFA Europa League (UEL) proper is back, and Napoli take on AZ Alkmaar in Group F in their first-ever competitive H2H meeting. The home side are heavy favourites, but historically have won just one of six matches against Dutch opposition in European tournaments (D2, L3). Encouragingly for home fans, Napoli are on a run of five straight victories entered as matchday favourites.

Furthermore, Napoli have registered seven straight UEL group stage match wins, and have started their domestic season brightly. As most teams do, they lost away to Juventus, but have won convincingly in their other three matches, overcoming a -1.5 handicap in all three and scoring a whopping ten goals in their two home matches

The Italian giants have had an eventful start to the new season, securing three wins in four league matches. They have particularly impressed with their impressive scoring record, having netted twelve goals so far, six of which have come in the thumping win over Genoa earlier in the campaign.

Europa League, however, could be a different ballgame as Napoli have already drawn against tricky sides like AZ Alkmaar, Real Sociedad and Rijeka. So on Thursday, it could be imperative for Gennaro Gattuso’s men to kickstart their campaign on a positive note.

Alkmaar, too, will be eyeing a similar objective, though unlike Napoli, they have had a disastrous start to the new season, notably drawing all four of their league matches so far.

After finishing level on points with Ajax last season, the Cheeseheads have failed to live up to the expectations, especially following the departure of Oussama Idrissi. And here, at the Hard Tackle, we will run the rule over these two sides ahead of this fascinating contest in the UEFA Europa League this midweek.

Date: 22/10/2020
Time: 19:55
Venue: Stadio San Paolo (Naples)
Pick for this match:
“1”-@ 1.35 ( Betwinner )