Prediction: Lazio vs Napoli

Verdict: Home win

Best odds: 11/10

Bookmaker: William Hill

Lazio are scheduled to play host to Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Saturday evening, in what will be a contest within the 19th round of the 2019/20 season in the Serie A.

Lazio

The round may officially be the 19th, but it will be the 18th league game of the season for the home team and they have done remarkably well so far. Only Napoli have come anywhere near to challenging Juventus for the title in recent years, but now, Inter Milan are equal to the defending champions on points, while Lazio sit in third place with six points less and a game in hand on both of them. The conclusion writes itself – Lazio are very much in the title race this season.

They were beaten by Inter in September, but their season has picked up big-time since then. They beat Juventus twice in December with the same scoreline (3-1), and one of those games was the Supercoppa Italiana final, which means Lazio already have a trophy from this season in their cupboard. Head coach Simone Inzaghi seems to have put together a fine team indeed, with the likes of forwards Ciro Immobile and Joaquin Correa, as well as midfielders Luis Alberto, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Lucas Leiva, among the more notable names.

Team News

Inzaghi is likely to be without Lucas, as well as defender Jordan Lukaku. Lucas served a yellow card suspension in the win away to Brescia last week, but now he has a hand injury. As for Lukaku, his whole season has been riddled with knee issues.

Napoli

As has been said above, Napoli were the only side capable of troubling Juventus at the top of the table for a while, but it seems the team has grown a bit stale, despite Maurizio Sarri, who is often credited for those successes and is now in charge of the Old Lady, leaving to be replaced by Carlo Ancelotti in the summer of 2018. This season has gone well enough for Napoli in the Champions League, but severely underwhelming results on the domestic scene led to Ancelotti getting his marching orders. It is Gennaro Gattuso, who in his playing days became an AC Milan legend under the command of none other than Ancelotti, who has now come in to pick up the pieces and try to put them together again.

But it seems the issues at the club went deeper (or higher, if you want) than the manager. Several players have reportedly had a standoff with president Aurelio Di Laurentiis, and Gattuso as the new man in the middle certainly has a tough job on his hands to try and make everything work.

Napoli are currently eighth, with just 24 points from the 18 games they’ve played so far.

Team News

Gattuso probably won’t have one of his main men upfront – Dries Mertens – at his disposal. The Belgium international is suffering from adductor problems and was forced to miss the defeat to Inter on Monday. Fullback Faouzi Ghoulam has been missing from action since late October and has been ruled out again. Centre-back Nikola Maksimovic is out with a hamstring injury.

Conclusion

Given the way the season has been unfolding for these two teams, it’s only logical to expect Lazio to win. Napoli are still a good team, but Lazio have proven they are capable of beating even better ones.

Immobile has so far scored 19 goals in 17 Serie A appearances, and he’s likely to be the difference maker for his team again.

Verdict: Home win

Best odds: 11/10

Bookmaker: William Hill