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Football London
Football London
Sport
Scott Trotter

Carlo Ancelotti expects Napoli to reach Europa League final despite 'tough' Arsenal quarter-final

Once again Arsenal have found themselves with a tough route to the Europa League final.

Last season they met Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals and this season they face Napoli in the quarter finals. The Italian side lie in second place in Serie A and have plenty of pedigree with serial winner Carlo Ancelotti in charge.

The first leg of Arsenal's quarter-final tie with Napoli takes place at the Emirates Stadium on April 11, with the second leg in Naples seven days later.

The Neapolitan side are expected to welcome star forward Lorenzo Insigne back in time for the clash and it seems that the former Chelsea boss is feeling confident with his team's form.

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Ancelotti told Sky Sports : "It’s an honor that some think we are the favorites in Europa League, we have a tough quarterfinal but I know we’ll get there we’ll if we keep this intensity: it won’t be easy against Arsenal”.

Napoli defeated Roma 4-1 at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday with Arkadiusz Milik, Dries Mertens, Simone Verdi and Amin Younes getting on the scoresheet. It was Verdi's performance that was singled out by the Napoli boss.

He said: "I expected this type of performance from my squad, I had said so yesterday that I saw a good spirit in practice despite the absences. I believe we did very well, but we were a bit superficial in first part. I’m using players who didn’t have much space at the beginning for different reasons.

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"I really enjoyed Verdi’s performance and this improves the quality on the squad. He’s very good, he showed all his qualities after getting past the phsycal problems that limited him. He was a significant investment and he’s now starting to give dividends."

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