Napoli vs Lazio Preview: Team News & Prediction
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These two faced off against each other in the Round of 16 of the Coppa Italia in midweek with Lazio comfortably defeating Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico. That needed victory for Lazio will give them confidence as they now travel to the Serie A league leaders at the weekend.
Kick-off date/time: Sunday 8th December, 2024: UK – 7:45pm / US ET – 2:45pm / US PT – 11:45am
How to watch on TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – Select matches will be televised on CBS Sports so it is worth checking their schedule
How to watch online: UK – TNT Sports & OneFootball / US – Paramount+
Napoli Preview: Focus on the league
Antonio Conte did his typical thing of constantly whinging about poor transfer business at Napoli this summer but they eventually spent over £100 million after losing 3-0 to Hellas Verona on the opening day of the campaign and the 2022/23 Scudetto winners, who have no European football to contend with this season, have moved into Conte’s title-winning mode.
Their poor performance against Lazio in midweek highlighted the priority of Conte with several changes made and they are simply in the mode of grinding out victories – as they did again last weekend, edging past Torino by a goal to nil in Turin. That slender win against out of form opposition was their fourth 1-0 win since the October international break.
Lazio Preview: The improved Lazio
Tijjani Noslin joined Lazio from Hellas Verona alongside manager Marco Baroni over the summer and notched a hat-trick as Lazio defeated Napoli by three goals to one in midweek. The visitors have been much-improved and a lot more cohesive this season since the appointment of Baroni following on from Maurizio Sarri and Igor Tudor last season.
Prior to that victory, they had been held to a goalless draw by Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad at home in the UEFA Europa League before a very disappointing performance as they suffered a 3-1 loss to Parma in Serie A at the Ennio Tardini last weekend. They have been improved, though, this season and sit just four points behind the Neapolitans.
Napoli Team News: Back to full strength
As mentioned, Napoli made 11 changes to their side for the clash with Lazio so they will return to their full strength line-up, especially with such an underwhelming performance put in.
Scott McTominay has established himself as a key man for Conte with Georgia international attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia also rediscovering some impressive form this season.
Predicted XI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Mathias Olivera; McTominay, Lobotka, Anguissa; Politano, Lukaku, Kvaratskhelia
Unavailable: Mario Rui (Injured), Mazzocchi (Injured)
Questionable:
Lazio Team News: A couple of changes
Lazio also made a couple of changes to their eleven with key striker Valentin Castellanos an unused substitute so he should be fresh and ready to come straight back into the eleven.
They are dealing with a few injury issues as Nuno Tavares, after a brilliant start to the campaign, remains sidelined alongside the likes of Matias Vecino and Boulaye Dia. Nicolo Rovella is missing through suspension, too.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Provedel; Lazzari, Gila, Romagnoli, Pellegrini; Guendouzi, Dele-Bashiru; Noslin, Pedro, Zaccagni; Valentin Castellanos
Unavailable: Tavares (Injured), Matias Vecino (Injured), Rovella (Suspended), Dia (Injured)
Questionable:
Napoli vs Lazio Prediction
Napoli are a typical Conte unit but perhaps even more extreme in terms of a defensive mindset with the attacking ‘automatisms’ not yet at their effective best with Romelu Lukaku yet to fully fire. Lazio will have to adjust their side with no Rovella in midfield and that could leave them a little exposed in midfield so Napoli, who will expect to control the game at the back, will be confident of doing so in the middle, too, so a low-scoring home win would appear a good bet for this one at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli vs Lazio Tip: Napoli to win & under 3.5 goals
