Napoli travel to the Juventus Stadium this week in what has been labelled as the ‘Scudetto decider’ of 2015-16.
The visiting Azzurri currently sit two points ahead of the hosts, who have set a new club record by winning their last 14 games straight, while also boasting seven clean sheets in a row across all competitions. Meanwhile, Napoli have gone on to score a mammoth 23 goals in their last seven outings, an average of over three goals a game. Something must give during Saturday night’s epic encounter in Turin.
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Key Battle – Gonzalo Higuain vs the Juventus defence
The Argentine striker is arguably the most in-form attacker in the world right now. Averaging a goal a game and currently aiming for his seventh consecutive in a league tie. Higuain comes up against his toughest test of the season, a Juventus defence which has not given away much since their 14-game winning streak began. The Bianconeri will be without key defender Giorgio Chiellini who will miss the entire month through a leg injury, however, it is still expected that Massimiliano Allegri will send his team out in a 3-5-2 formation, either utilising makeshift central-defender Stephen Lichsteiner or youngster Daniele Rugani. If the Juventus defence can manage to stop Higuain, they can consider a big chunk of the battle won.
Team News
Statistically, the Bianconeri are the team with the most injuries this season in Serie A, with Napoli being one of the most fortunate sides in the competition in terms of players unaffected by problems. Allegri will still be without key midfielder Sami Khedira and Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic, while in defence Martin Caceres remains a long term absence (out for the season), and of course as mentioned, Chiellini will also miss the clash.
Maurizio Sarri’s side has no injury concerns, however, Brazilian born Italian midfielder Jorginho comes back into the side after returning from suspension.
Juventus expected starting XI: Buffon; Lichsteiner, Bonucci, Barzagli; Cuadrado, Sturaro, Marchisio, Pogba, Sandro; Dybala, Morata
Napoli expected starting XI: Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Allan, Valdifiori, Hamsik; Callejon, Higuain, Insigne
Head-to-head
Juve vs Napoli has just about been Serie A’s must see clash of the past few seasons, with this Saturday’s encounter being the most vital in recent memory. A win for Napoli will give them an extremely healthy advantage of five points over the four-time current champions, but a win for Juventus will see them move to first place for the first time this season and give them a psychological edge that they can push on and maintain top spot down the final stretch.
The two sides have faced each other 37 times in history, with the Old Lady coming out on top with 18 wins, nine draws and 10 losses compared to Napoli’s 10 wins, 9 draws and 18 losses. Juventus average two goals a game against Napoli, who average 1.57 themselves in this fixture.
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Previous Meeting
Napoli defeated Juventus 2-1 in the most recent meeting at the Stadio San Paolo. Goals from Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higuain put the home side 2-0 up before Mario Lemina pegged-one back for the injury plagued visitors, in a game which Napoli did not appear to ever really be in doubt of winning. The Bianconeri have since found their form while Napoli proved they were genuine title contenders at the time, through their unrivalled attack and midfield dynamism.
Prediction
An extremely difficult game to predict with both sides having incredible runs of form as of late, this is definitely the most must see clash in Europe this weekend. Pencil in an absolute epic encounter with plenty of passion shown by Serie A’s two best sides (by a long stretch). Juventus will be out to avenge for September’s embarrassing loss and the lure of sitting top spot at the end of the 90 minutes will see Allegri’s side fight hard. For Napoli, there is always an element of pressure for a club which has plenty of support and is desperate to hold top spot. An extremely tough game to pick a winner, but as Juventus are playing at home, with all the big match experience you can ask for, they should reclaim top spot by the end of the weekend.
Juventus 3 Napoli 1
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