The Italian champions, Napoli, will host Lazio this Saturday night. San Paolo Stadium, or Diego Armando Maradona as some call it now, should be filled with at least 70,000 spectators who know how to create one of the best atmospheres in the world. Napoli opened the championship well, having two wins in two events, playing the same flamboyant football as before. On the other side, Lazio can’t find the rhythm and is in the red zone without any points. The pundits are suggesting this might be one pretty rocky season for the Eagles.
Preview
Napoli (-175) beat Frosinone on the road 1-3 and then Sassuolo at home, 2-0. As stated previously, we’ve seen I Partenopei using the same approach as in the previous campaign, not changing anything for the moment. Last year, they played maybe the most appealing football in Europe under Luciano Spalletti and that trend continues.
It appears that Rudy Garcia won’t make any adjustments until the old system works and gives good results. The experienced head coach knows the Italian championship and all the clubs, so Napoli fans have enough trust in him. Right now it seems that he has everything under control.
Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia still lead the team and are the top two stars in Napoli. Natan, the young centre-back from Brazil, is brought to replace Min-Jae Kim, and we’ll see how he responds to the new environment.
Lazio (+475) finally sold Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and as a result, their game in the midfield fell apart. The Serbian was the locomotive of the unit, and without him, the future isn’t looking bright for the Eagles.
The management didn’t bring any notable replacements, so it’s no wonder to see Lazio sitting without points near the bottom of Serie A. The first game they played was against Lecce on the road, 2-1 for the hosts. After that failure, the Eagles hosted Genoa at Olimpico, suffering another defeat, 0-1.
It was apparent already during the preseason that the team doesn’t have capabilities for big achievements. Losses to Girona, 2-1, and Aston Villa, 3-0, revealed plenty of weaknesses this unit has.
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There aren’t any players injured or suspended in both unit.
Head to Head Games
The guests posted wins in last year’s meetings between Napoli and Lazio. I Partenopei were better in Rome, 1-2, while Lazio took three points in Naples, 0-1. Yet the recent trend is on Napoli’s side, with four wins in the previous five contests.
Until last year’s defeat at home, Napoli posted six consecutive victories at San Paolo, presenting a nightmare for this rival
Predictions
The hosts are favorites here, and even though we all know that Italian football often brings surprises, this should be an easy pick here. The champs are excellent, having better players and looking better as a unit. Our bet is Napoli to win, but for those who want to increase the profits at the cost of some risk, go with Napoli covering a 1.5-goal handicap. It will double the stakes, and the value of the pick is high even for our standards.
Pick: Napoli wins -330
Here are more previews for this weekend:
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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Email: nikola@wagerbop.com