Serie A fans are set to be treated to a feisty fixture this gameweek as league leaders Napoli lock horns with second-placed Juventus at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have enjoyed a flying start to their Serie A campaign this season and now they have a chance to go 10 points clear at the top of the pile if this weekend’s results emerge favourable to them.
The Partenopei were handed their first loss of the season at the start of this year when Inter inflicted a 1-0 defeat to them and pushed Luciano Spalletti’s men in blowing the title race wide open.
Manager Spalletti will look again forward to the lethal duo of Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen against Juventus as they have the most goal involvements in the league this season. It will still be a big test for Napoli to come away with the three points as Juventus have improved much since their crisis from last season.
Meanwhile, Juventus approach this match on the back of a narrow 1-0 win against Udinese. The Bianconeri have had their woes this season but thanks to manager Massimiliano Allegri’s efforts, they have turned things around nicely.
Juventus boast of maintaining the best defensive record in the league this season as they have conceded only 7 times in 17 matches and against Napoli, they will look to stretch their formidable record to 9 league consecutive matches without conceding.
Indeed, Allegri’s men haven’t shown a display of sumptuous football lately but they have echoed the Serie A counterparts about their serious title charge.
Results from their last five matches in all competitions:
Napoli:
W L W W W
Juventus:
W W W W W
Team News
Napoli have no serious injury issues to deal with and only tactical changes are expected. Elif Elmas’ performance in their last game against Sampdoria proved promising and so the winger may start or atleast, come off the bench.
As for Juventus, Massimiliano Allegri have a number of issues to deal with. Dusan Vlahovic, Juan Cuadrado, Paul Pogba and Leonardo Bonucci are ruled out for this fixture.
Gleison Bremer and Mattia De Sciglio are expected to sit this one out with an injury. Allegri will go for a makeshift defence of Alex Sandro and Danilo, keeping in mind his team’s defensive stability.
Predicted XIs
Napoli (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Kim Min-jae, Rrahmani, Olivera; Zambo Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski; Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
Juventus (3-5-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Rugani, Gatti; McKennie, Rabiot, Locatelli, Miretti, Kostic; Di Maria, Milik
GIFN | Trambak Bhattacherjee
