Napoli's 4-1 win at Monza papers over a squad stretched thin

Napoli beat Monza 4-1 at the U-Power Stadium on October 28, 2026, a scoreline that reads like a side steadying itself after a shock defeat to Venezia and a fiery 3-3 draw with Roma. Rasmus Højlund opened the scoring in the 10th minute, his first goal since September 5. Gustavo Varela equalised for Monza in the 43rd. Matteo Politano restored the lead in the 48th, Rafa Marín added a third in the 62nd and Kevin De Bruyne completed the scoring in the 67th. The result lifted Napoli to 14 points; Monza stayed on 7.

What the scoreline does not show is who was missing from the dugout and who left on a stretcher. Massimiliano Allegri was absent, serving the first game of a two-match ban after a red card for dissent in the Roma draw, with assistant Marco Landucci taking charge. Stanislav Lobotka was stretchered off with a potentially serious injury. Napoli were already without injured Benoît Badiashile, Leonardo Spinazzola, David Neres, Alisson Santos, Costantino Favasuli and Alessandro Buongiorno, while Amir Rrahmani returned from flu. Monza were missing Jan Ziolkowski, Matteo Pessina, Yvan Maye and Michael Folorunsho.

The raw data from the match tells a more complicated story than the four goals suggest. Napoli had 65 per cent possession and 16 shots to Monza's 12, with seven on target to five. They created four big chances to Monza's one. But their expected goals of 1.37 was well below their average of 2.23 across earlier 2026/2027 matches in all competitions, and their 18 touches in the opposition box was down sharply on an average of 30.0. Their two corners here came against an average of 5.2. Napoli scored 2.63 goals more than their expected goals in this match, against an average of 0.0 across their earlier matches this season.

That gap between finishing and chance creation is the kind of figure that tends to regress. A side that scores four from 1.37 expected goals has had a good night in front of goal, not necessarily a convincing one. Monza's 0.73 expected goals from 12 shots suggests they were not as far from the game as the final score implies, though Napoli's four big chances to one is a more favourable measure of the visitors' control.

The wider context matters here. Napoli's league record under Allegri in 2026/2027 so far is three wins, two draws and three defeats, 1.38 points per game over eight games. That sits well below the 2.39 points per game Napoli managed under Maurizio Sarri in 2017/2018, when they won 28, drew seven and lost three of 38. The comparison is not a demand that Allegri match that season, but it does frame the question of whether Napoli are recovering the balance of their stronger recent campaigns or simply having a good night against an injury-hit opponent.

Højlund's goal, his first since September 5, is a welcome data point for a forward signed in the summer along with Badiashile, Vanja Milinković-Savić, Giovane Nascimento and Alisson Santos. Significant departures since the summer include Luis Hasa, Walid Cheddira, Romelu Lukaku, Giovanni Simeone, Lorenzo Lucca and Eljif Elmas. The turnover is substantial, and the injury list has compounded it.

What happens next will answer more than this result did. The 4-1 win is a data point, not a verdict. It ended a difficult week on the scoreboard, but the strain behind the result has not gone away.