Serie A Leaders in Big Home Test
Marco Iacobucci EPP / Shutterstock.com
The biggest game of the weekend in Serie A takes place on Saturday night as Napoli welcome Lazio to the Stadio San Paolo.
Napoli start the weekend with a 1 point lead over second placed Juventus but could come into this match 2 points behind their title rivals, if Juventus win their match at Fiorentina on Friday night.
Lazio start the match in third place but know the Serie A title is out of reach this season. Nonetheless, the club from the capital will want to claim third place and qualify for the Champions League next season.
Napoli come into this match in good form and have won each of their last seven Serie A games. Their only defeat since the 10th December has come in the Coppa Italia when Napoli were eliminated by Atalanta.
Napoli’s home form in Serie A is excellent and they have lost just one game this season, which came against the defending champions Juventus. They have won twelve of their last sixteen home league games, with the remaining three ending in draws.
Maurizio Sarri’s team have been entertaining to watch again this season and trends show they have averaged 2.17 goals in Serie A games and 2.27 goals in home league games. Not only that but they have managed to keep a clean sheet in four of their last five Serie A matches and that defensive record will be put to the test in this game.
Lazio travel to Naples having failed to win in their last three games in all competitions. There have been defeats at AC Milan and at home to Genoa in Serie A and a draw at AC Milan in the Coppa Italia.
These negative results have come just as Lazio were getting into their stride and the home loss to Genoa last weekend was especially disappointing. Prior to the defeat at Milan in Serie A, Lazio were on a nine-game unbeaten run.
However, Lazio have been a great team to watch for the neutral and trends show they have scored an average of 2.52 goals in Serie A games this season and 2.42 goals in their away league matches, which is an excellent record.
There have been over 2.5 goals scored in all but one of Lazio’s last seventeen away games in Serie A.
Team News and Napoli will be hoping Dries Mertens is available having picked up a knock in the win over Benevento last week. If the Belgian is unavailable Napoli will be left short in attack and Piotr Zielinski could come into the team.
Lazio have Ciro Immobile back to full fitness having started last weekend and the Italian is expected to lead the line in this game. Felipe Anderson was involved in an incident with his manager following the Genoa defeat and is unlikely to feature.
This should be a very exciting game and given the goal scoring exploits of both teams, we should see over 2.5 goals scored.
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