Napoli vs Juventus 27/01/20

27 January 2020

Out-of-sorts Napoli welcome Juventus to the Stadio San Paolo this weekend, hoping to bring a three-game losing streak in Serie A (SA) H2Hs to a halt.

The hosts have won two of five competitive matches since the turn of the new year, losing the other three, with four of those results (win/loss) seeing the winners on the day keep a clean sheet. A tight 1-0 win over Lazio in Coppa Italia last time out might serve as an encouragement for the Partenopei to snap a three-game winless run in top-flight home H2Hs with Juventus (D1, L2). However, they will need to defy a disastrous SA home form to accomplish that. Indeed, Gennaro Gattuso’s men have failed to pick up a win in six consecutive league games at the San Paolo in the build-up to this encounter, losing the last four (D2). Another warning to the home fans is that Napoli shipped over 1.5 goals five times during that six-game sequence, conceding the opening goal on three of those occasions.

Meanwhile, a 3-1 home thumping of Roma in their midweek’s Coppa Italia clash now means that the visitors won all five of their competitive outings in 2020. Although just two of those triumphs were accompanied by a clean sheet, all five have witnessed the ‘Bianconeri’ score over 1.5 goals. Also, the reigning SA champions have secured four wins in their previous five league road trips (L1), with three of those successes coming via a single-goal margin. Notably, the Turin giants have won both of their SA away fixtures where they’ve shipped the opening goal but have dropped four points in the last six league trips where they drew first blood (W4, D1, L1). A potential worry for Maurizio Sarri could be that only 38% of Juventus’ league goals have come away from home, although the fact they’ve scored 2+ goals in three of their last four SA road trips will certainly serve as a consolation.