Read our prediction for Napoli vs AZ Alkmaar below. This preview was written by a sport journalist who is specialised in betting tips and predictions. Use our betting tips for the match between Napoli vs AZ Alkmaar and you can increase your winnings!
Napoli vs AZ Alkmaar Prediction & Betting tips
AZ Alkmaar, plagued by positive corona tests, faces a tough task on Thursday evening. At full strength, the away game against Napoli would have been very difficult. Now, with thirteen absent, it seems almost impossible to get a good result. Or does AZ know how to stunt?
SSC Naples:
In recent years we have seen Napoli often act in the Champions League. In terms of ambition, and certainly also in terms of financial housekeeping, this is the stage the Neapolitans want to play on. Last year, the blue and white in their own country grabbed a strong top-four, so that they have to settle for a place in the much less lucrative Europa League. That did not stop President Aurelio de Lorentiis from pulling the wallet for striker Victor Osimhen, who came over from OSC Lille for seventy million euros this summer. However, Napoli also realized the necessary outgoing transfers, so that they could even note a transfer plus.
Osimhen scored for the first time last weekend for his new club, in the home game against Atalanta Bergamo, won 4-1. In this game, Hirving Lozano, who scored twice, again made a good impression. The Mexican had a difficult first year in Italy, but now seems to be getting started. He already scored four times in the first three matches in the season, the same as in the entire previous season. The question is whether Chucky will start on Thursday. For big clubs like Napoli, the national leagues have priority over the Europa League, especially at this stage. Trainer Gennaro Gattuso could rotate.
AZ:
Arne Slot and his team have a by no means ideal preparation for Thursday’s match in Naples. After the draw, this was the match that everyone on the Alkmaar side was looking forward to, but a series of positive Covid-19 tests threw a spanner in the works. Thirteen selection players from the North Hollanders have now been tested positive for the virus. For privacy reasons, there is a reluctance to disclose the names of those players, but it has not been very difficult to discover who belong to that group.
The club announced which nineteen players will be traveling to Naples with. Among other things, striker Myron Boadu is not on that list, and the search for Ron Vlaar is also in vain. For Slot – no matter how strange it sounds – it could have turned out worse, because the majority of the starting eleven is still available. However, that basic team is certainly not yet in the top form of last season. Last weekend, it was drawn for the fourth time this season. And again AZ relinquished a comfortable lead in a silly way. At home against VVV-Venlo, the Alkmaarders had to settle for a 2-2 draw.