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

Napoli and Roma meet this Sunday night in the most interesting match of the entire Serie A round 9. The two sides had international obligations this Thursday, and they both posted victories. Now, they want to continue that streak and to post a triumph against big rivals, which could be very important at the end of the campaign. Napoli and Roma are bidding for the UEFA Champions League place, and the way it stands now, it seems that this season’s race for the elite will be extremely tight.

Preview

Napoli (+110) had three straight losses at home before defeating Rijeka in Europa League three days ago. It was a 2-0 triumph and was quite refreshing following all the losses, in which, by the way, the hosts netted just once.

One by one, defeats against AZ Alkmaar, Sassuolo, and AC Milan frustrated both the fans and the players from Naples. The previous victory was on October 17, vs. Atalanta 4-1.

What was noticeable here is that in the majority of these recent clashes, both teams haven’t scored. To be exact, in four of the past six events Napoli played that happened. Gattuso’s side is a bit unpredictable this year, and they struggle in matches with high significance, as it was against Milan or AZ, which were the derbies.

AS Roma (+210) is superb now, with five straight victories in all competitions and eleven events in a row without a loss. We haven’t seen this from Il Lupi for a long time, and it seems that they finally took that one step forward we all waited for two years.

The game in Naples will be a true test for Paulo Fonseca’s side, who didn’t concede a goal in five of their latest six contests. Though, we need to say that four of them were at Olimpico in Rome.

The situation is different on the road, where Il Lupi relies upon offense, as they currently are on a four-game streak with two goals netted.

Latest News

Tiemoue Bakayoko is suspended because of a red card. Victor Osimhen’s shoulder is injured, while Amir Rahmani and Elseid Hysaj are both positive on COVID-19.

The guests have a small infirmary in their facilities. Chris Smalling is out, Nicolo Zaniolo and Ibanez too, all because of injuries. Davide Santon, Marash Kumbull and Pietro Boer all got positive tests on COVID-19.

Head to Head

When Napoli and Roma play, we usually see goals on both sides, as seven of previous wight games ended with both teams netting. During the last season, each team won with an identical result, 2-1, and both those victories were at home.

Prediction

The odds to see the tradition continuing and both teams scoring are not that high -195. But in order to increase the profits a little bit, we will add over 2.5 goals on that to make it a combo. The pick for this suggestion is -160, and that is acceptable.

One other pick is going through our mind, and that is Over 1.5 goals in the second half, -125.