Serie A – Round 10 – Napoli vs Juventus
By David, BettingExpert.com | Edited
Conte’s Juventus travel to Naples with a nine-point advantage over the Partenopei. Their luck has never been much in this fixture since it restarted its cycle in Serie A but their recent form may be enough to reverse that as well.
Napoli – Juventus
The last four games in this series have all been won by Napoli. It is a match which the Partenopei fans feel very much about with the Bianconeri being regarded as their main antagonists in recent club history. The same cannot be said of Juventus, which have always had a particular antipathy towards Inter. Nonetheless they do recognize Napoli’s vengeful eyes and do not hold back their zebra claws.
The rivalry gets all the more Juve’s attention in a season where they have now deservedly gained the title of main contenders for toppling Milan from the throne. With Napoli still one of the lurking dangers in this Serie A season Conte will be making sure his players do not underestimate this meeting and keep their candidature the strongest.
In order to keep them focused the manager has opted for staying in Rome after the Saturday night success with Lazio. The distance they will need to travel will be much less as they head to the San Paolo.
Juve’s fortunes so far have mainly resulted from the fact that they can afford to focus solely on the league. Napoli’s struggles, on the other hand, can certainly be attributed to their tough fixtures in the hardest Champions League group this season. The Bianconeri were right in declining their chance to take part in European competitions and Conte has been making the most of this.
The upcoming Tuesday night match will be one of the few times in which Juventus will be trying to recover energies in a short time. Their disadvantage in contrast to Napoli is that they are not used to this. On the other hand Mazzarri’s players are coming from calendar fatigues accumulated from the midweek Champions League game against Manchester City.
To try and level things out a bit Mazzarri has made four changes to his starting line-up last Saturday, keeping out Aronica, Maggio, Lavezzi and Inler. The latter will also be a doubt for this clash, and a serious one at that.
Conte is not free from problems though with Marchisio suspended after collecting his fifth yellow card and Pirlo’s conditions still not bullet proof despite resisting and insisting on playing against Lazio.
The positive run against Lazio persisted for them nonetheless and Pirlo did not look like being defeated by the pain. There were moments in which the Bianconeri had to suffer but that was to be expected against Reja’s solid side. Having missed out on the starting centre-back duo Dias and Biava though, Lazio’s backline was destined to struggle against quick forwards. Stankevicius, in fact, was at fault when Pepe ran from behind him to slot in the well maneuvered Juve counter attack.
For Napoli the story was different in that they had to work their way back from a goal down. They actually had more chances at goal but their opponents were Atalanta. A solid team which managed to hit a tired backline when the defenders became distracted. A striker like Denis can never be given an inch but the freedom he was allowed at times made the difference. In the end the draw was fair for both.
Verdict: Napoli 0:0
It is Napoli’s cruel calendar which prevents from going for a straight win here. They will be the dominant side but if they show signs of fatigue Juventus’ rapid football upfront can clinch the goals. I expect Napoli to press the Bianconeri well into their half but the difficulties they have shown with slotting the ball in the net may get them to stumble on another draw. They need the points to reduce a gap which is getting larger every matchday but they do realize that more importantly it is imperative not to lose this match. There will be time to get back into the games when European commitments are done with.
Obscure Stat - Over the last 6 Serie A seasons, all clubs playing away when on a 2 match away winning streak as Juventus are, have won just 24 of 103 matches, for a win profitability of -48%.
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28.11.2011, 19:47 CET
Cavani has left training earlier than his team mates and is a doubt for tomorrow's game with Juventus at the San Paolo.