How Massimiliano Allegri could try to stop Arsenal in Naples

Arsenal's Champions League opener against Napoli will provide Mikel Arteta with a very different tactical examination to Sunday's victory over Chelsea. Massimiliano Allegri has inherited a squad containing considerable technical and attacking quality, but Napoli's opening weeks have also exposed vulnerabilities Arsenal will attempt to exploit at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Napoli have lost consecutive Serie A matches and surrendered a 2-0 advantage in Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Inter. Yet the manner in which they built that lead also showed why Arsenal cannot treat their opponents' poor form as evidence of an easy night. Napoli could let Arsenal have the ball Allegri is unlikely to view dominating possession as a requirement for beating Arsenal. Napoli started their defeat at Inter in a 4-3-3, with Stanislav Lobotka operating at the base of midfield and Frank Anguissa alongside Antonio Vergara. Matteo Politano and Alisson Santos supported Rasmus Højlund in attack. Inter's official match report confirms that starting structure. That setup offers a possible blueprint for Wednesday. Arsenal will expect to control possession for long periods, particularly through Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard. Napoli do not necessarily need to prevent that. The more important objective could be denying Arsenal easy access into central spaces around the penalty area. Arteta's side are particularly dangerous when Ødegaard receives between midfield and defence or Kai Havertz drops away from the centre-backs to create room for runners around him. Allegri can respond by keeping Lobotka close to that zone and asking the two midfielders either side of him to protect the half-spaces rather than chasing Arsenal's centre-backs. That would force more of Arsenal's possession towards the wings. The challenge then becomes dealing with Bukayo Saka. Højlund gives Napoli a route behind Arsenal's defence The other side of Napoli's approach should interest Arteta just as much. Højlund has scored in each of Napoli's last two Serie A matches. Against Inter, Napoli went from 0-0 to 2-0 ahead in only three minutes, with Politano opening the scoring before Højlund doubled their advantage. That shows how quickly Allegri's side can punish opponents when space appears. Højlund's pace is particularly useful against an Arsenal team which wants its defensive line positioned high up the pitch. If Gabriel or Ezri Konsa step aggressively into midfield, Napoli will look for opportunities to play beyond them. That makes Arsenal's rest defence important. Rice and whichever midfielder partners him cannot both become caught ahead of the ball at the same time. Our look at the former Premier League players Arsenal will face against Napoli identified Højlund as one of the hosts' biggest individual threats for exactly that reason. Kevin De Bruyne could change Allegri's plan There is also an intriguing Kevin De Bruyne decision. The former Manchester City midfielder was on the bench against Inter, but UEFA's current predicted Napoli line-up has him returning to the starting side against Arsenal. That would change the character of Napoli's midfield. Lobotka can circulate possession from deeper areas, while Anguissa offers power and carries through pressure. De Bruyne brings the ability to play the decisive pass before Arsenal's defensive structure can reset. Napoli's official Champions League squad confirms all three are available, although Scott McTominay is expected to miss Wednesday's match. (UEFA) Without McTominay's penalty-area running, De Bruyne may become even more important creatively. Arsenal therefore need to prevent him receiving possession facing Raya's goal. Allowing him time to look up with Højlund already running behind would create precisely the type of transition Arteta wants to avoid. Napoli have struggled when matches change This may be the most important tactical weakness for Arsenal to exploit. After Napoli's 2-1 home defeat against Como, Allegri openly admitted his team needed to improve at managing the different phases of games. The Napoli coach said his side had not read those moments well enough and later stressed that his players had been too careless defensively. Napoli's official report carried his assessment after the defeat. The same issue appeared again six days later. Napoli established a two-goal lead at Inter. Within three minutes, Lautaro Martínez had reduced it to 2-1. Inter eventually equalised through Marcus Thuram before Martínez scored again in the 91st minute. Napoli's problem was not creating a winning position. It was controlling what happened after the game changed. Arsenal showed almost the exact opposite quality against Chelsea. Arteta's side conceded after only 77 seconds but did not abandon their structure or begin forcing attacks. They gradually regained control before Havertz equalised and Ødegaard completed the comeback. That difference in game management could become decisive in Naples. Havertz could be Arsenal's key to disrupting Napoli This is another reason Arteta may resist calls to immediately start Viktor Gyökeres. Gyökeres offers pace, power and a more direct penalty-box threat. Havertz, however, can create difficult decisions for Napoli's midfield and centre-backs. If he drops towards Lobotka, does a Napoli defender follow? If the defender stays, Havertz can combine with Ødegaard. If he follows, Tzolis or Saka can attack the space left behind. Havertz demonstrated exactly that intelligence for Arsenal's winning goal against Chelsea, deliberately allowing Christos Tzolis' pass to run through him so Ødegaard could attack the resulting gap. Our Arsenal predicted XI against Napoli currently has Havertz retaining his place for that reason. The battle between Havertz's movement and Napoli's central defensive structure could become one of Wednesday's defining tactical contests. Arsenal must make Napoli defend for long periods The temptation after seeing Napoli lose twice will be to attack them aggressively from the opening whistle. Arteta may prefer patience. Como demonstrated Napoli can become vulnerable when forced to defend repeatedly, while Inter showed that Allegri's side can lose their composure once momentum shifts. Arsenal do not necessarily need an early goal. They need sustained control. Move Napoli from side to side. Make their midfield repeatedly protect the box. Force Højlund further away from Arsenal's goal. Then increase the tempo when spaces begin appearing. Allegri is too experienced to allow Arsenal everything they want. UEFA notes that the Italian has won six Serie A titles across spells with Milan and Juventus and is the only coach in Europe's top five leagues to have won four consecutive domestic doubles. (UEFA) But his new Napoli side is still developing. Wednesday's task for Arsenal is to make that uncertainty visible.