Arsenal took 26 shots in Naples, the most they have had in a Champions League match, and won by one goal
Martin Odegaard settled it in the 75th minute at the end of a 29-pass move. Everything before that was Arsenal missing, and everything after it was Napoli almost making them pay.
Sep 10, 2026
Arsenal took 26 shots at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday night. It is the most they have had in a single Champions League match since Opta began keeping the count in 2003-04, and the most Napoli have ever faced in the competition. They won 1-0.
Twenty-nine passes, then Odegaard
The goal, when it finally came in the 75th minute, was the most Arsenal thing on the night. Twenty-nine passes in the build-up, patient to the point of being rude, before Martin Odegaard exchanged a one-two with substitute Christos Tzolis on the edge of the box and drove a low shot in off the far post. Napoli’s goalkeepers made seven saves between them, Alex Meret four before he went off injured for Vanja Milinkovic-Savic at half-time, and Milinkovic-Savic three afterwards. He had no answer to that one.
Only one Arsenal goal on record has come at the end of a longer sequence: Lucas Perez’s second at Basel in December 2016, which took 33 passes. Napoli had spent 74 minutes defending in a block and were undone by the one move they could not get near.
Five big chances, and a goalkeeper who deserved better
The scoreline is a poor witness. Arsenal had 23 chances created to Napoli’s four, 51 touches in the opposition box to Napoli’s eight, six corners to nil, and five big chances that went begging. Expected goals finished 4.05 to 0.22.
Thirteen of those shots came before half-time, which is the most Arsenal have managed in the opening 45 minutes of a Champions League away game on record. Saka alone had five of them, worth 0.95 xG. Napoli’s whole team managed 0.12 in that half.
Mikel Merino had a header parried after 22 minutes. Bukayo Saka sliced a shot from the middle of the box on 29, then fired over the bar from an Odegaard through ball right on half-time. Five minutes into the second half, Odegaard scooped a pass over the defence for Ben White, whose cross found Piero Hincapie six yards out. Hincapie put it over the crossbar.
Even after the goal there was one more. Kai Havertz sent Noni Madueke through in the 85th minute, Milinkovic-Savic saved, and Tzolis’s follow-up was blocked on the line.
Mikel Arteta was generous about it afterwards, in the way managers are when they have the three points. “I don’t know the amount of chances and situations we generated but the performance doesn’t reflect the result,” he said. “It should have been much bigger, in a really tough environment, a really tough opponent. I think the team was superb.”
Odegaard has four in five after six in 45
The captain’s season is the subplot worth following. Odegaard scored six goals in 45 appearances last season, a return that had people arguing about whether he was in decline or simply never fit. He has four in five this time, and Wednesday was his first Champions League goal since March 2025.
He finished the night in Naples with 120 touches and six chances created, both more than anyone else on the pitch, and five passes that broke Napoli’s defensive line, also the most in the match. The scoop over the top for White was one of several that should have produced a goal.
“Certainly Martin is contributing with goals that are impacting results,” Arteta said. “That is what we want from our attacking players, being decisive, and certainly he was again today.”
Thirteen in a row, and one goal conceded all season
Arsenal have now won 13 consecutive Champions League group or league phase matches. Only Bayern Munich have gone longer, with 17 between December 2020 and November 2023. Under Arteta they have kept 20 clean sheets in 40 Champions League games, four more than any other club since the start of 2023-24.
Domestically the picture is the same. Five wins from five in all competitions this season: Manchester City in the Community Shield, then Coventry, Aston Villa and Chelsea, and now Napoli. One goal conceded across the lot, and that came 77 seconds into the Chelsea game.
Arsenal were runners-up in this competition last season, beaten on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest after a 1-1 draw across 120 minutes. They have started the new one without being made to defend.
Napoli managed five shots and no corners
Napoli’s night reads badly in every column. Five shots, three on target, no corners, nine crosses attempted and none of them accurate. Their best moment arrived in the 89th minute when Kevin De Bruyne was put through with the goal in front of him and chose to square the ball instead of shooting.
It is a third straight defeat for Massimiliano Allegri’s side, after Como won at their ground on 30 August and Inter came from two down to beat them 3-2 on 5 September. It is also the first time Napoli have lost consecutive home matches in the Champions League. The league phase does not get gentler from here.