It is matchday 2 in the Italia Serie A and we have an interesting inter-city rivalry on hands, Naples' finest Napoli travels to Turin's Heavyweight Juventus in what promises to be one of the weekend's biggest fixtures. The early season clash will present Napoli an opportunity to test if their squad is ready to challenge Juventus for the Scudetto.
Juventus' dominance in the Serie A is no more breaking news, as they seem to have made the Scudetto their own, 8 consecutive Serie A title summed up Juventus' reign. In those 8 years, the only team that often time push Juventus for the title was Napoli, as she has come up as runners up 4 times, so, one can be forgiven for naming Napoli as one of the title challengers to Juventus yet again.
FORM;
Juventus, despite an inconsistent preseason, began the season with a hard-fought, slim 1 nil victory at Parma, courtesy of a 1st-half strike from defender Giorgio Chiellini. Having dominated the proceedings against Parma, Juventus were limited to few scoring chances and will be raring to improve on that performance against rival Napoli, hopefully, manager Mauricio Sarri has shaken off pneumonia to be in Juventus dugout on Saturday.
Napoli also had a not-too-good preseason but in her season opener had to come from a goal down, to edge an entertaining 3-4 scoreline at Fiorentina. However, they can not afford to be porous at the back against Cristiano Ronaldo lead Juventus attack, or else it might prove difficult to undo the damage.
Juventus vs Napoli, H2H;
Juventus W68, Napoli W31, 47 Draws.
Both teams had played a total of 146 Serie A matches against each other, with Juventus having the upper hand with 68 wins, Napoli had 31 wins while 47 matches ended in a draw. Juventus' 68 wins include victories in both return legs in last season's fixtures(2-1 & 3-1).
Key Players;
Juventus: Home side will definitely rely on the finesse of Ronaldo in this tie, the Portuguese will be aiming to get into his groove having drawn blank against Parma. Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic will also offer threats in Napoli's half. Also, new signings such as Adrien Rabiot, Aaron Ramsey and Matthijs De Ligt may be in for their 1st start.
Napoli: Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and Jose Callejon will inflict trouble to any defence, the trio scored all 4 goals in Fiorentina win and will be raring to have a go at Juventus defence, plus they have a manager that has the technical know-how to hurt Juventus, Carlo Ancelotti.
Prediction;
Juventus 2-0 Napoli
Losing at home is never an option for Juventus, they have made the Allianz Stadium a fortress over the past 8 seasons and are still hungry for more success. A draw will certainly be a step in the right direction for Napoli but it will be a tough task.
Thank You All.
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