Napoli goalkeeper saves five of six shots

Good evening, Napoli supporters, this is Napoli Tonight for Thursday 10 September.

Alex Meret was replaced by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic at half-time against Arsenal, and his six saves did more to keep the scoreline respectable than anything Napoli managed at the other end.

Napoli lost 0-1 at home to Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday. Martin Odegaard scored the only goal, in the seventy-fifth minute, for Arsenal, teed up by substitute Christos Tzolis. The numbers tell the real story: five shots to Arsenal's twenty-six, no corners to six, three shots on target to eight.

Opta's data backs that up. Napoli conceded 4.05 expected goals against Arsenal, the highest figure the club has recorded since the metric began, and it is the second alarming reading in a row, after 3.86 expected goals conceded away at Inter. Two matches, two warnings, the same defence giving up clear chances whenever the stakes rise. That is not bad luck twice over, it is a pattern, and it is the same defence that faces Bologna on Sunday.

Arsenal's Declan Rice was blunt: he said his side could have scored four or five, and called it the hottest match he has played for the club, comparing the humidity to a World Cup pitch.

Former goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano went further, saying Napoli "lose ten times out of ten" to sides like Arsenal, and that head coach Allegri needed to be bolder, not more cautious. He draws a line between Europe and the league: a cautious night can be excused in a cup tie, not in Serie A. We think he has a point. Sitting deep for ninety minutes and creating nothing is not a plan a paying crowd should have to accept, in any competition.

Attention now turns to Sunday, when Bologna visit the Maradona in Serie A, kickoff at eighteen o'clock CET, seventeen o'clock UK time. Left-back Mathias Olivera called it "a final" for Napoli, and admitted supporters have every right to be frustrated after three straight defeats. Bologna sit fifteenth with just one point from three games, and arrive without head coach Domenico Tedesco, suspended for two matches.

Napoli sit twelfth with three points from three games. Roma, Inter and Lazio share the top on nine points, after Lazio won away at Udinese. And the midfield only gets thinner: Scott McTominay's cardiac ablation surgery leaves an already stretched squad shorter still for Sunday.

That's Napoli Tonight for tonight. Every story, in full, at arenarete dot com slash napoli slash e n. Back tomorrow evening at eight o'clock CET.