Lazio vs Napoli
Lazio and Napoli have aims to gain more ground in the Serie A table as they will face off over at the Stadio Olimpico this Sunday night.
Both of these proud clubs are raring for a victory here since their recent Serie A 2020 results have been unsatisfactory by their standards, with Napoli fresh from a loss and Lazio coming off of a draw.
With the race to this year’s Scudetto getting tighter by the day, this upcoming match is expected to be played with high stakes.
Just like Lazio and Napoli, their fellow contenders in AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, AS Roma, and Sassuolo have their work cut out for them given their minimal points disparity.
Looking at where it stands now, Napoli are at the fifth spot with 23 points while Lazio are ninth with 18 points.
Gennaro Gattuso’s men will motivate his men to push for a top four spot while Lazio are keen on inching closer to the same destination after an underwhelming start.
Without further ado, we take a look on how these two teams will stack up for this weekend’s affair.
Talking Points
Lazio’s backline looks vulnerable
In order for the Biancocelesti to regain their title contending form, Simone Inzaghi would need to address their porous backline.
Lazio are currently one of the worse teams in giving up goals, with 20 already after 12 matchdays.
The absences of skipper Senad Lulic, Lucas Leiva, Mohamed Fares, and Francesco Acerbi have hurt their backline depth to a large degree, and Lazio have no choice but to dig deeper from their rotation.
The said quartet are considered lineup doubts ahead of Sunday, which means more burden for the trio of Luiz Felipe, Wesley Hoedt, and Stefan Radu.
Midfielders Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Gonzalo Escalante will be key pieces as well on defence since Inzaghi likes to employ a 3-5-2 formation.
At the front, Lazio should have no problems at all.
Ciro Immobile, the winner of the Golden Boot award last season, will spearhead the attack as usual. He leads them in goals scored with seven in 10 domestic games played – and four in their last five.
Creative forwards Joaquin Correa and Luis Alberto are both needed to be on target, considering they have only tallied four goals combined so far.
Napoli missing several pieces
Similar to Lazio, Napoli will also miss some key personnel.
Dries Mertens suffered an ankle injury and will not return until January, while Lorenzo Insigne will serve his one-game suspension since he was sent off in their ugly loss to Inter Milan.
Summer signing Victor Osimhen has travelled to Belgium to rehab his nagging shoulder injury, while Elseid Hysaj is not 100-per cent fit.
But even without these players, Gennaro Gattuso should have enough tools to eke out a victory.
Andrea Petagna, Matteo Politano, Fabian Ruiz, and Hirving Lozano will play major roles this Sunday to lead the third-best attack in Serie A today.
The Partenopei have not lost two straight Serie A games in almost a year and they are hopeful to maintain such trend.
History
Lazio and Napoli have faced off 42 times since the turn of the century.
The Biancocelesti have the slight edge in the head-to-heads with 18 victories, whereas the Partenopei have won 14 times along with 10 draws.
These two sides last met in August where Napoli notched a 3-1 victory at home. Fabian Ruiz, Lorenzo Insigne, and Matteo Politano scored one each, while Ciro Immobile added one for Lazio in consolation.
That game witnessed history as Ciro Immobile equalled a Serie A record of reaching 36 goals in a single season.
They have split their two matches prior to August in a couple of low-scoring tiffs that ended up 1-0.
Betting Tip
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Lazio vs Napoli | 1X2 Draw @ 3.10 |
| December 21, 03:45 (GMT+8) |
Given how these two line up, this match can really go either way.
And the Serie A 2020 odds agree as Napoli are priced at 2.58, while Lazio are pegged at 2.75 in the 1×2 market. However, to be safe, my recommendation is for you to place your wagers at a draw at 3.15.
Goals can come at a healthy amount with capable attackers from both sides, so going for Over 2.50 @ 1.88 or Total Goal 2-3 @ 2.04 are plausible alternatives as well.
With Lazio and Napoli looking fatigued and missing key personnel, perhaps sharing the spoils won’t be too bad at all for these two sides.
Nonetheless, we expect this to be a fun and cagey affair. So continue to tune in here at SBOTOP as we have you covered with the latest in Serie A.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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