Leicester vs Napoli: Europa League preview, team news, stats, kick-off time

Team news and stats ahead of Leicester vs Napoli in the Europa League group stage on Thursday; kick-off 8pm.

Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has stressed his club's desire to keep making progress.

The Denmark international wants the Foxes to look to the future ahead of their Europa League opener with Napoli at the King Power Stadium on Thursday.

He said: "We are in a very good place, we have had a lot of recent success but that means you have a choice to make. Are you content with that or do you want to progress and move on?

"That's what this club wants to do. The club continues to show it in the backing in the training ground, the expansion of the stadium and the transfer market.

"The club is always looking to improve. That's the most important thing to me, when you are in an organisation which has had success - the hunger is still there."

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Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has no fresh injury doubts for the Group C curtain-raiser but James Justin (knee) and Wesley Fofana (broken leg) remain long-term absentees.

Jannik Vestergaard could get the nod once more in defence but Filip Benkovic has been registered in the Europa League squad and may be involved.

Patson Daka or Kelechi Iheanacho may start in attack along with Ademola Lookman.

Napoli could be without captain Lorenzo Insigne, who was forced off in the second half against Juventus at the weekend.

Goalkeeper Alex Meret is suffering from a back injury and remains sidelined so former Arsenal stopper David Ospina will start.

Stanislav Lobotka is out with a muscular injury and Diego Demme is absent too. New acquisition Andre-Frank Anguissa could join Fabian Ruiz and Eljif Elmas in midfield. Dries Mertens and full-back Faouzi Ghoulam remain out but Piotr Zielinski is now available.

How to follow

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• This is Leicester City's first match against Napoli in European competition and their first competitive match against an Italian side.
• Napoli are set to face an English side for the 21st time in European competition, with Leicester the seventh different English team they've faced, after Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Leeds, Liverpool and Man City. Napoli have never won an away European game against English opponents in 10 previous attempts (D2 L8).
• Leicester have only lost two of their 13 home matches in UEFA European competition (W8 D3) though one of those was their most recent game at the King Power against Slavia Prague in February, losing 2-0, a result that saw the Foxes eliminated from the UEFA Europa League in the last 32.
• Napoli have only lost one of their last 15 UEFA Europa League group stage matches (W11 D3), a 1-0 home defeat to AZ on MD1 of last season's competition.
• In all major European competition (European Cup/Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, Cup Winners' Cup & Fairs Cup), Napoli are one of only four teams to play 10+ away games in England without winning (10 games), after RSC Anderlecht (17), Dynamo Kiev (15) and Club Brugge (12).

When are the Europa League group stage games?

Matchday 1: September 16 2021
Matchday 2: September 30 2021
Matchday 3: October 21 2021
Matchday 4: November 4 2021
Matchday 5: November 25 2021
Matchday 6: December 9 2021

All the key Europa League dates

Round of 16: March 10 & 17 2022
Quarter-finals: April 7 & 14 2022
Semi-finals: April 28 & May 5 2022
Final: May 18 2022 (Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Seville)

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