Serie A: Napoli vs. Roma Preview, Odds, Prediction

Derby del Sole or Derby of the Sun is the clash between Napoli and AS Roma. This matchup takes place on Sunday at San Paolo in Naples, one of the most hostile places in Italy. The hosts are first in the standings, looking pretty good, and in excellent form. Meanwhile, Mourinho and his boys aren’t confident as Napoli, but they too are very nasty, like all the teams that the Portuguese manager led. 

Preview

Napoli (-125) came back following the World Cup with a loss against Inter at Meazza, 1-0, and at that point, it seemed that Gil Azzuri might slow down and lose their pace from the start of the year. But that was just a temporary slip.

Since that event, Spalletti’s crew won three Serie A games, two on the road, in Genoa against Sampdoria, and most recently in Salerno vs. Salareintana, both with the same result, 0-2. In between, these guys rolled over Juventus, whom they humbled at San Paolo, packing five goals in their net and allowing only one. 

Napoli’s offense has been one of the best in Europe this year, especially at home. Only once during this campaign, Gil Azzuri haven’t scored at least two goals at San Paolo, and two of the previous dozen contests here were with over 2.5 hits. 

AS Roma (+375) didn’t lose since the restart of the championships. Il Lupi had five games, winning four events and posting one draw. Mourinho’s tactics are now emerging to the surface, with the team from Olimpico tightening the situation in the back line.

The first game was against Bologna, whom they defeated 1-0 at home, before a trip to San Siro, where they played 2-2 against AC Milan. Roma was then better than Genoa, also at home, 1-0, in the Coppa Italia matchup. The most recent two triumphs have been with the same result, 2-0, against Fiorentina at home and Spezia on the road.

As you can see, the efficiency of Roma’s games is low, and four of those five ended with under 2.5 goals, and in each one, Il Lupi ended with clean sheets. 

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Juan Jesus is out for the hosts, as well as fantastic Kvaratskhelia who has been one of the best players in Italy and Europe this year.

On the other side, the only one who is out is Georginio Wijnaldum, who picked up an injury before the season even started. 

Head to Head Games

There has been one clash this season, with the two units meeting at Olimpico. Napoli was better in that one, with Victor Osimhen scoring a goal in the 80th minute of the event. 

Also, Napoli has six straight games in which they haven’t lost to Roma, winning four of them and having two draws. 

Prediction

The hosts are in near-perfect shape and will be highly motivated to beat great rivals. As you can see, when Napoli plays at San Paolo, things are more or less disastrous for the visitors. Now, we respect Mourinho, but in this case, even he won’t have the solution on how to stop Gil Azzurri.

Pick: Napoli wins -125

Here are more previews for this weekend.

• Bayer Leverkusen vs. Borussia Dortmund 
• RB Leipzig vs. Stuttgart
• Bayern Munich vs. Eintracht Frankfurt