Allegri: Arsenal's defence is their greatest strength

Massimiliano Allegri has pointed to Arsenal's defence as the visitors' main asset before Napoli host the Premier League champions in the Champions League on Wednesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

"Tomorrow is a different competition from Serie A, a sort of mini-league, where we need 12 points to secure qualification for the next round," Allegri said. "Arsenal are the Champions League finalists and won the Premier League, Mikel Arteta has done an extraordinary job in the last four years. He did well to sort out their defence, as Arsenal concede very few goals, and they work together as a team. It's their greatest strength."

Arsenal arrive with a perfect record after three games this season, one of only two Premier League sides still unbeaten. Napoli's start has gone the other way: an opening Serie A win over Genoa has been followed by back-to-back defeats, to Como and then at Inter.

Allegri also flagged an injury crisis that has left him with just four fit midfielders, though he confirmed he will stick with his 4:3:3 shape regardless. "We know the difficulties of this match, which we must go into with pride and the desire to do well," he said. "We are up against one of the best. Europe gives you different motivation and adrenaline. When we don't have the ball, we must defend better as a team, because so far against both Como and Inter, we left something to be desired on that front."

Captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, speaking at the same press conference, addressed the same defensive lapses that have cost Napoli five goals in two games.

"This game arrives at the right time, as it’s good after a defeat to get straight back out there. We want to start strong in the Champions League, we’re ready for a good game and analysed the errors that we made last week."

Di Lorenzo went further on the Inter collapse. "I know that conceding three goals in one half isn't something that makes us happy, it means we clearly made mistakes, and must do better from tomorrow," he said. "In the Champions League, the level is so high that you are punished by the tiniest error, so we need the perfect performance in order to get a result."

This leaves little scope for Allegri to rotate before Wednesday's game. Di Lorenzo touched on how that has affected the team physically.

"The coach asks us to be more aggressive, to cover the ball when it is at the feet of our opponents. Our legs aren’t running at top speed yet at this stage of the season, but we’re working on that aspect too."

Kick-off is at 20:00 UK time. A poor night in Naples would leave Napoli with two defeats from their opening two competitive fixtures, while a win would give them an early say in the group standings.