Napoli v Juventus – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

Napoli host Juventus on Saturday in Serie A at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Partenopei has lost just one of their last 18 Serie A matches and has won nine and drawn three of their last 12 at home. Juventus are in poor form and lost 1-0 at home to Empoli in their last match. Old Lady coach Max Allegri may be without several players for this match in Naples.

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Napoli Form

After finishing number fifth last season, Napoli parted ways with coach Gennaro Gattuso and appointed Luciano Spalletti. They ended last season in good form beating Lazio 5-2, Spezia 4-1, and Udinese 5-2 in their final seven matches but a 1-1 home draw with Verona on the final day proved costly.

This season has begun with two wins as Venezia was beaten 2-0 despite playing 68 minutes with ten men after a red card at 0-0. A 2-1 win at Genoa followed with Fabian Ruiz on target as well as Andrea Petagna with a late winner.

Napoli Team News

Napoli is without Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen after his red card on an opening day. That is expected to mean Lorenzo Insigne plays as a false nine with the speedy Hirving Lozano playing on the left. Veteran forward Dries Mertens is doubtful with a shoulder injury but Piotr Zielinski should return to boost midfield options.

The club lost right-back Elseid Hysaj to Maurizio Sarri at Lazio in the off-season whilst Arkadiusz Milik made a loan move to Marseille into a permanent transfer. The main additions were Cameroon midfield dribbler André Zambo Anguissa on loan from Fulham and Matteo Politano from Inter after a loan spell. The winger cost £16m and has started both Serie A matches thus far.

Napoli Motivation

At home, motivation for this match will be extremely high, both because they are facing Juventus but also due to the very vocal home supporters. The Partenopei have shown in the run-in last season that they don’t take their foot off the peddle when leading and continue to attack.

With Kalidou Koulibaly and Kostas Manolas as a superb centre-back pairing, they are capable of defending well without parking the bus at any stage.

Juventus Form

Juve had a mixed season last time out but rallied to finish in the top four places. A run of three defeats in nine Serie A matches from rounds 27 to 35 included a very poor 3-0 home loss to Milan. However, Andrea Pirlo’s side won their final three matches, 3-1 at Sassuolo, 3-2 at home against champions Inter Milan and 4-1 at Bologna.

Pirlo was dismissed after the poor season with Max Allegri returning to the helm. The coach saw his side throw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at Udinese in Cristiano Ronaldo’s final appearance for the club as a substitute. His second match in charge saw a shock 1-0 home defeat to Empoli.

Juventus Team News

The Old Lady has an injury doubt over winger Federico Chiesa, who was injured on international duty with Italy. Reports are saying that the Bianconeri may leave their South American players out of this match as they will only arrive back on Friday. That means Danilo, Alex Sandro, Juan Cuadrado and Paulo Dybala may be rested.

Midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Rodrigo Bentancur are both major doubts for this match. Max Allegri could hand striker Moise Kean his second debut in the Juve shirt alongside Alvaro Morata upfront after Ronaldo’s departure.

Juventus Motivation

Juve needs a win desperately but simply can’t afford a defeat. Naples is an extremely difficult ground to play at so a draw would be seen as a fine result.

Considering the South American players may not travel with an eye on the UEFA Champions League next week, motivation may not be at its maximum for this match.

Key Stats

Napoli have lost just 1 of their last 18 Serie A matches

Napoli are 12 home matches unbeaten (W9, D3)

Napoli have scored in their last 28 Serie A matches

Napoli have scored 32 goals in their last 13 Serie A matches

Juventus had the second-best defence in Serie A last season (38 goals conceded)

These sides have drawn just 1 of their last 11 meetings (6 wins for Juve, 4 for Napoli)

Juventus have lost 4 of their last 14 Serie A matches

Juventus have conceded in their last 10 away Serie A matches

Verdict

This should be a very tense match. Napoli is simply in far better form than Juventus and is a good bet to win the match especially if Juve is missing several players.
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