Stadio Diego Armando Maradona kinds the backdrop for a heavyweight Serie A top-table six-pointer between Napoli and Inter. Saturday’s conflict in Naples may resolve one of the crucial intense Scudetto races in latest reminiscence.
Napoli appeared to have had an higher hand on Inter till not way back. Nevertheless, the house aspect’s type has lately fallen off a cliff. After a gut-wrenching run of three consecutive league attracts, Antonio Conte’s aspect slipped to a dismal 2-1 defeat at newcomers Como final weekend.
With Napoli up the creek with no paddle, Inter seized the chance to maneuver some extent clear on the desk’s summit pre-round. Due to this fact, the Partenopei can in poor health afford a slip-up on this mouth-watering conflict, particularly with third-placed Atalanta solely three factors off.
The identical goes for Inter, whose latest type can’t encourage a lot confidence both. Certainly, Lautaro Martinez netted a lucky header to encourage the reigning Serie A champions to a slender 1-0 dwelling win towards bottom-half Genoa final weekend.
Inter provided a extra reassuring efficiency in midweek Coppa Italia motion, beating Lazio 2-0 at Giuseppe Meazza. In doing so, Simone Inzaghi’s expenses arrange a blockbuster semi-final tie towards fellow San Siro rivals Milan in April.
Nevertheless, there’s a extra urgent matter they have to attend to.
Match Preview
Napoli
Napoli are one in every of solely 4 Serie A sides to have received not one of the final 4 league matches, with the opposite three caught within the drop zone pre-round! That in all probability greatest illustrates the depth of the disaster on the Maradona Stadium forward of essentially the most important encounter of the season.
Halting that underwhelming streak hinges on defying the latest head-to-head historical past, with Napoli going winless in 9 of their final 11 Serie A video games towards Inter (D4, L6), together with a 1-1 attract November’s controversial 1-1 draw on the San Siro.
Conte has since waged a media battle towards his former employers, who may condemn him to a fifth consecutive winless Serie A outing for the primary time in his managerial profession. Nevertheless, the highly-rated tactician has had Inter’s quantity all through his illustrious tenure within the dugout.
Certainly, the Napoli boss has prevented defeat in all seven earlier managerial duels with the Nerazzurri (W4, D3), handing the house followers hope that the Partenopei may return to the win column for the primary time since late January.
Inter
Regardless of seeing off Genoa to leapfrog Napoli into the summit, Inter’s latest Serie A showings have lacked conviction. The guests have alternated between successful and dropping throughout their final 4 league matches (W2, L2), with each defeats approaching the street.
Moreover, Inter didn’t get on the scoresheet in each losses, together with a humiliating 3-0 thrashing at Fiorentina a fortnight in the past. As if that’s not chastening sufficient, Inzaghi’s lads have received none of their final three away league clashes towards top-eight sides (D1, L2).
If there was a time to snap this rotten patch, it’s now. With one other titanic away recreation towards Atalanta ready across the nook, Inter should flip their away fortunes round shortly. Consecutive wins ‘to nil’ throughout their final two Serie A visits to Naples ought to bolster the touring crew’s spirit.
But, Inter should take care of one other distraction as they’ve the primary leg of their Champions League last-16 tie towards Feyenoord lined up for subsequent Wednesday. In the meantime, it’s price noting that they’ve not scored greater than as soon as in 5 of their final six aggressive matches on the street.
Staff Information
Napoli might be with out two very important first-team members in the present day. Along with Brazilian winger David Neres, Conte misplaced standout midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa to harm within the late phases of final weekend’s recreation towards Como. Wingback Pasquale Mazzocchi can be on the sidelines.
Then again, Inter boss Inzaghi can’t depend on first-choice goalkeeper Yann Sommer and second-string defender Carlos Augusto. Accidents to Nicola Zalewski and Matteo Darmian have aggravated the disaster on the wing, heightening the stress on Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco.
Napoli vs Inter Potential Beginning Line-ups
Napoli (3-5-2): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno; Politano, Billing, Lobotka, McTominay, Spinazzola; Raspadori, Lukaku.
Inter (3-5-2): J. Martinez; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, L. Martinez.
Napoli vs Inter Prediction
Regardless of beating Napoli’s haul of 42 Serie A objectives by 17, Inter will face the division’s greatest defensive aspect. Conte’s expenses have solely conceded 21 objectives this time period, together with a league-low two second-half strikes at dwelling.
Given the stakes, this may very well be one other hard-fought recreation with solely a handful of possibilities on each ends. Due to this fact, we anticipate Conte and Inzaghi to share the spoils once more.