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Longtime Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was asked about the Europa League recently (who know why, but he was), and his response was to declare a pair of Italian favorites; according to the Frenchman, either Napoli or Juventus will take home the trophy.
"Every year we talk about teams who have dropped out of the Champions League automatically becoming favourites for the Europa League," Wenger said. "I think that is the case again with Juventus, who I don’t think will have any problems with Trabzonspor. The same is true of Napoli. The Azzurri will be favourites against Swansea and in the competition as a whole."
While the fun thing to do these days is to make fun of anything Wenger has to say about winning trophies, he does know a fair bit about winning them. He's won the English Premier League three times, including the famous Invincibles season of 2003-2004, and also won a title at the helm of French side AS Monaco in the late 80's. He's also consistently taken Arsenal on deep Champions League runs, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to win games in European competition.
Napoli have to overcome the hurdle of Swansea first, though, and then the winner of the tilt between FC Porto and Eintracht Frankfurt before they even reach the Quarterfinal round. If Napoli can get all the way to the Final in Turin, it will be an exciting thing to see, and the battle for the trophy would be all the sweeter if it comes against Juventus.
