Napoli and Lazio will clash in a battle of the top two from last season in the Serie A. However, their Neopolitan opponents have made a flawless start to the defense of their Scudetto. They scored five times during back-to-back victories. The latter are still searching for their first points of the new season.
Preview (Napoli vs. Lazio)
In the relatively early Serie A rankings this season, Napoli already leads their Roman rivals by six points. Last season, Napoli won the league by finishing no fewer than 16 points ahead of Lazio. Victor Osimhen, the current Capocannoniere, continued to defend the title last weekend. He assisted Napoli in a 2-0 victory over Sassuolo with a first-half penalty after scoring twice on the first day. As the Partenopei calmly defeated a home team down to 10 men after 51 minutes in Reggio Emilia, another star of last season’s triumph, captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, also scored after the interval.
In order to repeat Napoli’s first Scudetto victory in 33 years, continuity has been crucial under new manager Rudi Garcia. Despite missing out on major target Gabri Veiga last week, Eintracht Frankfurt attacker Jesper Lindstrom has since come to reinforce Garcia’s strong team. Lazio’s struggles are shown by the fact that they have only won three of their last 13 games. They did triumph in the most recent matchup, a 1-0 victory at Stadio Maradona in March.
The last time Lazio won back-to-back league games in Naples was all the way back in 1937, so history is definitely not on the side of current coach Maurizio Sarri when he once more visits his old team. The Biancocelesti have lost both of their opening two games this season despite a rich and famous history. They have never lost all three games in the opening three games of a Serie A season. However, that destiny would await should they fail to take at least a point. Following a late collapse at Lecce, Sarri’s team was unable to overcome promoted Genoa’s defense last week.
Team News
Hirving Lozano, who has 30 goals and 17 assists in his time in Italy, is returning to PSV. Jesper Lindstrom, a Danish international, is coming to Napoli and is expected to join the hosts’ lineup. Matteo Politano and Giacomo Raspadori are also candidates to back up Victor Osimhen up front. The latter has already scored three Serie A goals in 2023–24 and will now try to become just the fourth Napoli player to do so since the club’s return to the top flight 15 years ago, joining Jose Callejon (2013), Edinson Cavani (2010), and Marek Hamsik (2009). Ciro Immobile, a previous Capocannoniere winner who has contributed to 246 goals in 299 appearances for the club (197 of his own and 49 assists), is once again in charge of Lazio’s attacking trio.
Matteo Guendouzi, a former Arsenal midfielder, recently joined the Biancocelesti from Marseille, but the central trio in Maurizio Sarri’s preferred 4-3-3 system may not change. Only two players, Elseid Hysaj (Achilles) and Pedro (Ankle), are now in danger of missing the match against their previous team due to injuries. Maurizio Sarri was in charge of Napoli at the time of the two teams’ most recent league draw, which occurred nearly seven years ago. Lazio would undoubtedly take a point from this high-profile match at Stadio Maradona given their sluggish start, but the hosts have begun well under new management and provide a larger goal threat.
Napoli 2 – 1 Lazio
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