UEFA Champions League: Napoli vs Chelsea Odds and Betting Preview

NAPLES, ITALY - Struggling Chelsea travel to the Stadio San Paolo cauldron in Naples this evening in an attempt to end Napoli's 16-year unbeaten home record in European competitions, in the second round, first leg, of the Champions League. Napoli are slight favourites to win the game at 11/8 (bet £8 to win £11) with Bodog and Ladbrokes, while Chelsea are priced at 23/10 with Blue Square, Boylesports and Betfred. Punters can get 9/4 with BetVictor on the draw. 

Napoli impressively knocked Manchester City out of the group stage, and they are looking to put another English team to the sword in this round - this time, a team with much more Champions League experience than them, but who are playing much worse than the English league leaders this season. Chelsea are vying with Arsenal for the league's 'crisis club' title after no win in five for the London side. That run has included squadering a 3-0 lead to Manchester United two weeks ago, and drawing 1-1 with Championship side Birmingham this last Saturday in the home.

Napoli will be hoping to make the most of this weak home form when they travel to Stamford Bridge in a number of weeks' time, and the Italian side are in fact outsiders to qualify from the tie, priced at 27/20 on Betfair to progress. Chelsea are incredibly short at 8/13 with most firms to make it into the next round, a price offered by Bet365, Blue Square and Ladbrokes.

Chelsea stumbled past Bayer Leverkusen, Valencia and Genk in the group stage but were not tested as strongly as they will be by a side that took four points off Manchester City and boasts a very strong front line, most likely to consist of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani. Cavani netted twice against Manchester City, and he is 15/8 with Paddy Power to score anytime tonight. Lavezzi is 10/3 on Betfair to score anytime while Hamsik is slightly longer at 4/1 on the same exchange. Goran Pandev may come off the bench for Napoli, and the striker is also 4/1 on Betfair to score, while Gokhan Inler, starting in midfield for Napoli, is 8/1 with Ladbrokes and Paddy Power to get on the scoresheet. 

Chelsea are thought to be likely to drop Fernando Torres, 21/10 with Bet365 to score, from the starting line-up and replace him with Dider Drogba, who is 3/1 on Betfair to score anytime. Daniel Sturridge is 23/10 with Bodog to hit the back of the net, while Juan Mata is 9/2 on Betfair to score.

Chelsea have won just three of their six Champions League matches this season despite having take the lead in all six games, and it is best with Bodog that Chelsea are winning at half-time but the match ends in a draw. Chelsea/Napoli in the same half-time/full-time market is 33/1 with Coral and Bodog. It is likely to be a closed, tight game however, being the first half of a two-game tie, and Draw/Draw is the shortest in the market at 4/1 with Bet Victor and Blue Square.

Under 2.5 goals is best at 8/11 with Bet Victor, while under 1.5 goals is best at 9/4 with Stan James. Only 1 of the 3 Champions League games at the San Paolo has gone over 2.5 goals this season, and that is 5/4 with Ladbrokes this evening.

Chelsea are deemed to be the fourth-favourites with the bookies to win the competition outright come May, priced at 18/1 on Betfair, while they are 12/5 to be eliminated at the quarter-finals, 7/2 in the semi-finals and 10/1 in the final, all with Sky Bet. Napoli are 40/1 to win the competition with Betfred and Bet365.

The match kicks off at 1945 GMT and is live on Sky Sports.

Match Result Odds