Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli

Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli Preview

The second batch of 1st leg ties in the knockout round of last 16 in the Champions League will be played this week and features this upcoming clash between German hosts, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Italian visitors, Napoli, with both teams heading into this encounter on the back of wins in their respective domestic leagues.

Eintracht Frankfurt registered a solid 2-0 home win against Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga which saw the hosts bounce back from a previous heavy 3-0 loss on the road at Cologne, but that has been Eintracht’s only slip-up in the German domestic top flight in their last nine matches overall.

That win on the weekend has helped maintain Eintracht Frankfurt’s position in the top six of the German top division where they sit in sixth place and indeed became Frankfurt’s fourth home win on the trot in the Bundesliga; however, although they finished runners-up behind Group D winners, Tottenham, Frankfurt’s results on home soil during the group phase were a mixed bag.

A 3-0 loss to Sporting Lisbon saw Eintracht Frankfurt off to a poor start but a draw with Tottenham was followed up with a 2-1 victory over Marseille, but their Italian visitors on Tuesday night are an unknown quantity to the hosts as they’ve never played Napoli before in any competition.

Unlike their German counterparts who are clinging onto the last remaining European spot, Tuesday’s visitors, Napoli, hold a commanding 15-point cushion at the top of the Italian Serie A over second-placed Inter Milan and confidence will be high amongst the Napoli camp as they have won each of their last five matches on the trot.

All five of these victories were achieved in Serie A with wins against Salernitana, Roma, Spezia, Cremonese and Sassuolo, with four of these five wins also seeing Napoli prevent their opponents from scoring.

Interestingly, Napoli haven’t bothered too much about being involved in draws in the past few months as the visitors have won 12 of their last 16 matches in all competitions and their ability to grind out a win may prove to be the difference in this opening leg in Frankfurt on Tuesday night.

On the Champions League front, Napoli pipped Liverpool to claim top spot in Group A on goal difference, thanks to winning two of their three away matches in the group, claiming a 3-0 win at Ibrox against Rangers and a 6-1 humiliation of Ajax in Amsterdam.

Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli Verdict

Eintracht Frankfurt have enjoyed a reasonable campaign in the Bundesliga but the hosts possess very limited exposure on the Champions League stage and although they gave a good account of themselves during the group phase, Frankfurt’s inexperience may hold them back over these two legs against the canny Italians.

Napoli know they can give total concentration on these two upcoming legs against Eintracht Frankfurt in this competition as they hold what looks like being an unassailable lead at the summit of Serie A, and their league form transferred onto the European stage as the Italians won five of their six group games.

In addition, Napoli won two of their three away games during this period and this should set the visitors up nicely for this 1st leg on Tuesday night.

Therefore, our main bet will be Napoli win @ 2.10

Other side bets worth considering:

Napoli & Both Teams To Score Yes @ 4.00

Correct score: Napoli win 2-1 @ 9.00