Ajax vs Napoli – Preview, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction | UCL 2022-23

Victor Osimhen-Napoli

Ajax will look to get back to winning ways in the UEFA Champions League when they welcome table-topping Napoli to Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam this Tuesday.

Venue: Johan Cruijff Arena (Amsterdam)

Key Statistics

Ajax have not drawn any of their last 14 European home games (W8, L6).

They have failed to progress from seven of their nine UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stages.

The hosts have a 27% win rate across 49 historical encounters with Italian opponents (W13, D18, L18).

At home, they are unbeaten in their last nine games (W8, D1).

Napoli have won their last six games. 

They are unbeaten in their last 14 games (W12, D2).

They are also unbeaten in 14 of their last 16 UCL games.

The visitors have only ever won once in eight UEFA encounters with Dutch opponents (D3, L4), with no victories on Dutch soil (D2, L2).

They have scored 3+ goals in five of their ten games this season. 

Head to head

This is the first match between both sides in the UCL.  

Latest performances in all competitions

Ajax: D-L-L-W-W

Napoli: W-W-W-W-W

Ajax

Ajax will be desperate to get their floundering season back on track when they welcome Napoli to Amsterdam on Tuesday. 

The hosts started life under new manager Alfred Schreuder on a high note as they won their first seven games under the Dutchman. But since winning those seven consecutive games, they have recorded a three-game winless run for the first time since 2020. 

That current winless run culminated in a 1-1 draw at home to Go Ahead Eagles over the weekend. However, when asked after the game if he was nervous about this tougher encounter with Napoli, Schreuder simply replied, “why should I be nervous?”.

Given that the hosts opened their UCL campaign this season with an impressive 4-0 at home, they will fancy their chances of getting a win in this game and get back to contention for the top spot in the group after losing 2-1 to Liverpool last time out in the UCL. Another source of confidence will be their unbeaten run at home, which runs to nine games (W8, D1).

However, they have failed to progress from seven of their nine UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stages, and have a mere 27% win rate across 49 historical encounters with Italian opponents (W13, D18, L18). 

But none of those encounters involved Napoli, so they will be confident of getting a first win against the high-flying Serie A side. 

Possible Ajax starting line-up

Remko Pasveer; Devyne Rensch, Jurrien Timber, Calvin Bassey, Daley Blind; Dusan Tadic, Edson Álvarez, Davy Klaassen; Steven Berghuis, Brian Brobbey, Steven Bergwijn.

Injured: Ahmetcan Kaplan, Jorge Sanchez

Doubtful: Mohammed Hattaren, Charlie Setford

Suspended: None

Napoli 

Napoli made it 14 games without defeat last time out when they beat Torino 3-1. 

The win was Napoli’s 12th win in their last 14 games (D1) and kept the host’s impressive start to the season going and their place at the top of the Serie A table for another week. 

Manager Luciano Spalletti described his side’s performance in the win over Torino at the weekend as “superlative” and he will be hoping that his side can repeat such a performance when they travel to the Netherlands. 

The visitors are now over halfway to matching their club record for unbeaten games, which was a run of 19 in 2017. And considering Napoli are unbeaten in 14 of their last 16 UCL games, they may be confident of edging ever closer to that record run.

They currently sit on top of their UCL group after recording impressive wins over Liverpool (4-1) and Rangers (3-0). A win in this game will put them one foot into the next round and give them just their first win on Dutch soil.

Napoli have only ever won once in eight UEFA encounters with Dutch opponents (D3, L4) but can improve on that if they can continue their incredible away form during 2022/23, which has seen them net 2.4 goals on average per away game.

Possible Napoli starting line-up

Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Kim Min-jae, Mario Rui; Andre Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka; Hirving Lozano, Piotr Zielinski, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; Giacomo Raspadori.

Injured: Victor Osimhen

Doubtful: Gianluca Gaetano

Suspended: None 

Prediction

Ajax 2-2 Napoli