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

Lazio meets Napoli in the Seria A derby this Sunday night. The game takes place at the legendary Olimpico, and we are sure that the atmosphere will be wild. Both sides had international duties this midweek, and both of them suffered eliminations from the Europa League playoffs. Lazio to Porto and Napoli to Barcelona, so we can say that the pressure on each side is pretty high. Also, the stakes are high. Napoli chases Sucedetto, and the guests can’t allow losing points. Meanwhile, the Eagles are chasing the UEFA Champions League spot, and not winning tonight would be a massive setback.

Preview

Lazio (+190) played 2-2 at home to Porto on Thursday and didn’t erase the deficit from the first event in Portugal, in which they lost 2-1. We’ve seen the Italians solid in that one, but they had several unbelievable misses in front of the rival’s goal, eventually suffering an elimination due to that.

Sarri’s unit is without a win in the past three events, and with just one in the previous five, suggesting that Lazio might have entered some sort of a crisis. Losing to Napoli tonight would most definitely be a major slap in the face.

Five of the most recent six matches in which Lazio participated saw over 2.5 goals, and the previous three were with both teams to net. High efficiency is something that is constantly present in the Eagles’ results.

Napoli (+140) is pretty much in the same position when talking about the potential crisis. Partenopei had three consecutive draws before losing to Barcelona at San Paolo on Thursday, 2-4. Spaletti’s boys wasted points in Cagliari during this stretch, and that could have disastrous consequences on their title run, despite being this early.

Napoli’s defense fell apart against Barcelona. After four straight contests with under 2.5 goals, we saw six vs. Barca. Though, they often concede, which is the biggest problem for the team from Naples.

When looking at the road events, Napoli didn’t lose in the previous seven, but managed to win only three times throughout that run. The latest six were under 2.5 scores.

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Lazzari is definitely out for the hosts, while Acerbi still stands as doubtful.

On the other side, Anguissa, Lobotka, Lozano and Tuanzebe are all ruled out for tonight’s event. Politano and Malcuit are doubtful.

Head to Head Games

Napoli destroyed Lazio in the previous two events. Both of them were in Naples, 5-2 last year and 4-0 in late November this season. It was one-sided domination that saw them netting three times in the opening 29 minutes. Zielinski, Ruiz and Mertens, with a brace, solved this one.

Prediction

Goals are our choice here because we simply can’t see this match ending without at least three of them, and may we add, on both ends. Both Lazio and Napoli have to attack and go out strong because one point isn’t suitable for anybody. The odds for the safer pick, are at -105, and if we include both teams to score they head up to +120. In our opinion, this is quite well.

Pick: Over 2.5 goals -160