Serie A resumes after a short break for Christmas and the action starts on Friday night as Napoli travel to play Crotone. Maurizio Sarri’s team have a 1-point lead over Juventus going into this match and know a win will see the pressure placed back on the defending champions as they travel to Hellas Verona on Saturday night.
As for Crotone, they need any points they can get as they aim to move out of the relegation zone. Currently sitting in 18th place, a win would move them up to 15th in the table.
Italian Serie A – Napoli v Crotone – Stadio Ezio Scida, Crotone – Friday 29th Decmber – 19:45 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 9/2 at PaddyPower |
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Napoli
FC CrotoneCrotone Form
Crotone come into this match having won only 1 of their last 7 games in all competitions and lost heavily 4-0 at Lazio last time out. The only win in those 7 matches came at home against Chievo Verona in Serie A, which was a 1-0 victory. However, all 6 of the other games, 5 of which were in Serie A and one in the Coppa Italia, ended in defeat. Perhaps the most interesting statistic is the number of goals Crotone have scored in recent games and they have failed to find the back of the net in 4 of their last 6 Serie A matches, which is a poor record. Crotone have won 1 of their 9 Serie A away games this season.
Napoli Form
Napoli bounced back well following their run of 3 games without a win and have won each of their last 3 matches in all competitions. Having lost 1-0 at home in Serie A to Juventus, which was a big blow, Napoli were defeated 2-1 in the Champions League at Feyenoord before drawing 0-0 at home with Fiorentina in Serie A. Many onlookers thought Napoli’s season was about to collapse. However, they have responded with wins over Torino and Sampdoria in Serie A and Udinese in the Coppa Italia. Napoli are undefeated in their last 22 away league games and have won 17 of their last 22 matches on the road in Serie A, which is impressive.
Team News
Crotone will be without Marco Tumminello for this game as the forward has a cruciate ligament injury and is not due back until the end of February. Every other player should be fit and available. Napoli have striker Arkadiusz Milik working his way back to fitness but he is not expected to be available until the start of February. Full-back Faouzi Ghoulam will also miss the match and is not expected back in action until April.
Napoli v Crotone – Betting Odds and Predictions
Having suffered a set-back against Juventus, Napoli appear to be getting back to their best and should have too much for Crotone in this game. Napoli to win is 2/7 with William Hill. Crotone have been struggling to score in goals in recent games and Napoli will see this as the perfect opportunity to keep a clean sheet.
Top Betting Tips Napoli v Crotone
You can get 19/20 with Ladbrokes for Napoli to win the match to nil. The goals have stop coming for Dries Mertens in recent games and he has failed to score in his last 7 games in all competitions. However, the Belgian remains Napoli’s top scorer and can be backed at 1/2 with BetFred to get back in the goals and score at any time.