Serie A: Can Napoli’s Bad week get any Worse?

Napoli vs Lazio

The Serie A match of the weekend takes place at the Diego Maradona Stadium in Naples on Sunday, when Lazio are the visitors to take on league leaders Napoli.

The hosts lost their unbeaten league record last week; going down to Inter Milan, while sixth placed Lazio were beaten by a resurgent Juventus; but the two teams had mixed fortunes in their midweek Europa League dates. While Lazio were impressive in a victory away to Lokomotiv Moscow, Napoli lost for the second time in four days, this time to Sparta in the Russian capital.    

Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti needs to lift his players now; you don’t become an average team in two games, but his opposite number Maurizio Sarri will be keen to make it a week to forget for the Azzurri.  

Talking Points

Mertens to step up for Napoli

Last week’s six pointer against Inter ended in serious disappointment for Napoli as it was a chance to put ten points between them and the reigning champions. And the Serie A 2021 betting odds reacted by installing Inter as favourites to win a second successive Scudetto, at a price of 2.80 here at SBOTOP; but Napoli, at 2.95, can regain the mantle of title favourites if they can go on another run of Serie A 2021 resultssomewhere near their opening 12.

Ten wins and two draws takes some doing and Spalletti’s men were a little unlucky to come away from the San Siro empty handed, but they had a double blow with the news that top scorer Victor Osimhen will be out for up to three months with a cheek fracture. With Matteo Politano also in the treatment room and skipper Lorenzo Insigne doubtful, that means Spalletti needs to draw on his striker reserves. Andre Petagna is likely to start up front alongside Napoli’s all time top scorer Dries Mertens. The Belgian ace scored his first goal of the league season in the defeat to Inter, but he has bags of experience in the big games, and an undoubted ability to win a match with a moment of genius, often from a dead ball delivery.

With Piotr Zielinski, who was also on target against Inter, and Hirving Lozano in support there is plenty of firepower still available for Napoli. Spalletti will assess his squad after the 2-1 defeat to Spartak Moscow but he doesn’t have any new injury concerns. 

Second placed Milan are at home to Sassuolo on Sunday afternoon; so Napoli may well have already lost top spot when they kick off; and they will be determined to grab it back without delay.

Immobile back for Lazio

While Napoli struggle with injuries Lazio’s situation seems to be easing and they have a key striker of their own back in the fold. Ciro Immobile has been out for a while with a calf injury and without him Sarri’s men looked toothless in the 2-0 defeat to the Old Lady. But the Biancoceleste welcomed back their captain for the 3-0 win in Moscow and he responded by converting two penalties with his customary ruthlessness. Immobile is currently neck and neck with Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic in the race for the Capocannoniere, with ten goals from 11 league games, two fewer starts than the Viola striker. 

Lazio, currently in sixth place with 21 points, are simply not the same team without their star striker and they need him to stay fit if they are to make an assault on the top four.  

History

The head to heads between these two giants of Italian football have been well contested over the years; but Napoli have the edge with 21 victories to Lazio’s 16 over the past 46 encounters, and there have been nine draws.

Lazio’s last win in Naples came back in 2015 and the Romans have lost on their last five visits there. In the last meeting the Azzurri stormed into a four goal lead before Immobile and Sergej-Milinkovic Savic dragged Lazio back into the game, but the hosts ran out 5-2 winners with goals from Mertens, Osimhen, Politano and two for Insigne.

Sarri’s men haven’t had much luck on the road this season, winless in five away games.  

Betting Tip

	Napoli vs Lazio	Napoli Asian Handicap -0.50 @ 1.82
	November 29, 03:45 (GMT+8)

Lazio or draw is available at odds of 1.89 but their poor away form, combined with Napoli’s huge incentive to get back to winning ways, leads me to believe the Naples outfit will continue their dominance in this fixture.

A correct score-line of 2-1 is available at 6.76, with a 1-1 draw slightly lower at 6.56.

 

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