How Napoli’s Serie A safety blanket gives them the edge over Arsenal in the Europa League
The first of these advantages is that Napoli have the luxury of a 12 point cushion in Serie A’s race for Champions League football next season. Despite their title challenge falling away relatively early in the season, they have been far and away the second best team in Italy this year, and as a result have a comfortable buffer in the league between them and the third place team Inter, who sit 7 points behind them. While it will be of little comfort to Napoli fans who hoped to give Juve a tougher test in terms of challenging for the title, it will help them massively in the build up to Thursday’s first leg at the Emirates, as they will be under far less pressure to win their domestic games. Despite losing against Empoli on Wednesday they were able to rest a number of important players, and the same is expected against Genoa on Sunday. Manager Carlo Ancelotti has already admitted that his training is already focusing on the Arsenal game, regardless of playing Genoa at the weekend, and this could be a big benefit to them come Thursday.
Arsenal however are not afforded the same luxury. They are currently in a four way race for Champions League qualification in the Premier League, and despite being the form team of the four, they face a number of tricky away fixtures in the coming weeks, including this Sunday when they travel to a rejuvenated Everton side that have beaten Chelsea and West Ham in their last two outings. Arsenal are in the driving seat of the race for qualification, but they know, unlike Napoli, that they cannot afford any slip ups if they are going to remain in control of their own destiny. This means essentially that Emery will have to manage the fitness of his squad and will face tough decisions over priorities and necessities over the coming weeks.
Another disadvantage for Arsenal is the difficulty and timings of the two clubs fixtures between their Europa Laegue tie. Napoli will travel to Chievo, who sit rock bottom of the Serie A table on only 11 points, with just one win all season, on the Sunday following the Emirates clash. Meanwhile, Arsenal will face another tough away tie, one that again they cannot afford to lose, away at Watford, who sit 8th in the Premier League, on Monday 15th April, giving them a day less rest than Napoli and, on paper at least, a far tougher and more important fixture.
Napoli also seem to have had positive news regarding the fitness of key first team players. Both Mertens and Insigne had at some point over that past couple of weeks been expected to miss out on the first leg, however it now appears that both will be fit to face the Gunners on Thursday, with Napoli expected to use the tie against Genoa as an opportunity to ease them back to fitness, without feeling the need to rush them back.
How much these factors impact the match remains to be seen, but they could just give Napoli a slight edge, and in a tie of such importance, with so much at stake, sometimes that is all that is needed to tip the balance in favour of one side.