Manchester City vs Napoli prediction, best bets, odds & predicted line-ups: Haaland to stay in hot form

Manchester City start their Champions League campaign against a familiar face with former skipper Kevin de Bruyne set to line up against his old club as part of the visiting Napoli team in Thursday’s clash (8pm, TNT Sports 2)

City face one of their biggest legends in what could be a difficult first test of the European campaign, but Pep Guardiola’s side will enter the game buoyant after a convincing derby win over Manchester United at the weekend.

City’s Champions League odds are significantly larger than in recent seasons - they were a best price of 11/4 on betting sites ahead of the 2024/25 campaign - but they are on a mission to prove themselves and regain the form of recent seasons, starting with a big win over accomplished opposition this week.

Napoli have made a positive start to the Serie A season with three wins from three games, and they currently top their own league table ahead of the trip to Manchester.

While they’ll enter this match as underdogs, the Serie A champions can test any of Europe’s best sides on their day, and the addition of De Bruyne – alongside league MVP Scott McTominay and a strong supporting cast including Frank Anguissa – means that the Partenopei are well-placed to spring a surprise at the Etihad.

Nevertheless, home advantage and the derby win mean that football betting sites see the hosts as the favourites against the Italian champions, with City priced at 4/6 to win versus odds of 4/1 for a Napoli victory.

City’s win in the derby put the club back on track after two straight losses to Tottenham and Brighton in their previous two matches, but a game at home to the Italian champions is an altogether different type of test.

On paper, Napoli are a superior side to both Spurs and the Seagulls, and while playing styles and various other factors come into it, the Italian side have plenty of weapons that can hurt any team in a given match.

The Partenopei have started their title defence with three wins from three, scoring six goals in the process and conceding just one. While they haven’t faced an attack of the level that City possess, their ability to score goals is evident, especially since the addition of City legend Kevin De Bruyne, who already has two goals this term.

Interestingly, separate wagers on City to score and Napoli to score are offered at football odds as low as 2/15 for the hosts and 10/21 for the Italian side, so Champions League betting sites clearly think there’ll be goals at both ends.

While City will enter most matches at the Etihad as favourites, we do think Napoli’s attack can cause problems for Pep Guardiola’s side, who have conceded four goals so far in 2025/26.

Manchester City vs Napoli prediction 1: Manchester City to win & both teams to score - 11/5 Ladbrokes

Erling Haaland’s impressive brace in the Manchester derby took the Norwegian to five goals in just four games already this season, with the towering striker only having failed to score in the 2-0 loss to Spurs this season.

Haaland already tops the Premier League scoring charts and is 4/6 in the Premier League top scorer odds to stay there until the end of the season, as was the case when he scored the record number of goals in a single season with 36 in 2022/23.

The 25-year-old is among the favourites in Champions League top scorer odds having won that individual award twice before and histry suggests he may get off to a hot start in that particular racing having scored three times in three previous meetings with Napoli.

With 11 goals over his first six games for club and country this season, it is brave to bet against the Norwegian scoring at this point.

Manchester City vs Napoli prediction 2: Erling Haaland to score anytime - 8/11 Bet365

Using our Man City vs Napoli best bets, punters can put together a bet builder for the game which pays a best price of 7/2 with BetMGM. The bet builder would feature:

Man City: Guardiola has no new injury concerns after the win over Manchester United, though he remains without Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Omar Marmoush and Mateo Kovacic. John Stones could bet fit enough to return, and he’ll be assessed this week.

Napoli: Romelu Lukaku is the main absentee for Napoli, with the Belgian likely out until the final months of the year with a hamstring injury. Defender Amir Rrahmani could make a return after a shorter lay-off with his own hamstring problem.

Antonio Conte has no new injury concerns after the win over Fiorentina, with decisions to be made over whether Rasmus Hojlund starts over fellow summer striker signing Lorenzo Lucca.

Man City: Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri; Silva, Reijnders, Foden, Doku; Haaland.

Napoli: Milinković-Savić; Di Lorenzo, Beukema, Juan Jesus, Spinazzola; Lobotka; Politano, Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay; Hojlund.

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