Martin Odegaard continued his impressive early-season form as his 75th-minute goal secured a 1-0 victory for Arsenal away to Napoli in their opening Champions League league-phase match. The result extended Arsenal's perfect start to the season and highlighted the growing influence of their captain, who has now scored four goals in his last five appearances after managing just one in all competitions last term.
Mikel Arteta made four changes to the side that beat Chelsea in the Premier League, handing first starts of the season to Mikel Merino, Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres, while Piero Hincapie came in for Riccardo Calafiori at left-back. Bukayo Saka retained his place, somewhat unexpectedly, ahead of Noni Madueke.
Arsenal dominated territory for large spells but were wasteful in front of goal. Saka opened the scoring chances with a spectacular overhead kick in the 14th minute from a Gyokeres cross, though it was straight at goalkeeper Alex Meret. Merino then headed wide after being teed up by Eze, while Ben White also failed to test Meret from a promising position.
The most glaring miss came right before half-time, when Odegaard threaded a defense-splitting pass to release Saka one-on-one with the goalkeeper, only for the England winger to blaze his shot over the crossbar with the goal gaping. Replays confirmed he had been onside, compounding the miss.
Napoli, missing the injured Scott McTominay, looked to hit Arsenal on the counter, with former Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne forcing a rare mistake from David Raya, though the Gunners recovered in time. Matteo Politano also tested Raya as the hosts searched for openings.
After the break, Arsenal continued to press, and Hincapie somehow steered a close-range effort over the bar following more chaos in the Napoli box. Substitute Christos Tzolis also fired over from a good position as the visitors' frustration mounted.
The deadlock was finally broken when Odegaard found space on the edge of the box following a patient build-up and drove a precise strike in off the post, giving goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic — who had replaced Meret at the interval — no chance despite getting a fingertip to the ball.
Arsenal should have added to their lead in the closing stages. Madueke, introduced from the bench, raced through on goal but failed to finish, and Tzolis could not convert the rebound either. At the other end, De Bruyne almost snatched a stoppage-time equalizer with a dangerous ball across the box, but no Napoli player was on hand to apply the finish.
Arteta praised his captain's growing importance to the side after the match.