The
Roma chase of Juventus appears over and with Napoli ten points clear of
Fiorentina in 4th, this is the
race within a race and battle for second
place. The hosts trail the visitors by three points and have played a
game more, so only really a win will help their cause, they will go all
out for it, because they cannot really play any other way. These are
arguable the two most attack minded teams in Serie A and this is a
fixture that traditionally provides entertainment and plenty of it, with
the last 20 h2h meetings averaging 3.35 goals .
The
two met here last month in the Coppa Italia with Napoli recording a
resounding 3-0 win and overcoming a 3-2 defeat in the first leg. They
won last year's league meeting also by three goals (4-1) and feel they
now have the upper hand, certainly here at the Stadio
San Paolo. Ahead of the last meeting I wrote ....
This should be
entertaining. Roma won the first leg 3-2 and one earlyish goal either
way should see this follow a similar pattern. Both teams are treating
the competition with respect and the game seriously. Roma failed to beat
Lazio in the derby game at the weekend, but were unlucky IMO, the
Gervinho "goal" would have been given by most match officials and the
referee missed two clear yellow card fouls, which would have seen red's
awarded for later infringements....but I am not bitter !
Roma are looking to make the final for the eighth time in a dozen
seasons and are always especially motivated with the decider now played
in their home stadium. You can read a lot of background notes on them in
the Sunday newsletter. Team news is unchanged and they have travelled
with the strongest squad available.
Coach Rudi Garcia made some telling comments saying...."We’ll play to win the game, at least initially. The game we play is
made for attacking, and then we'll see how the match goes. Tomorrow
could be the game of the season; in games this close we know we need
everyone. Tomorrow we’ll go to Naples with the strength we have in this
moment. We have enough of it."
I did not fully pick up on this "we’ll
play to win the game, at least initially", which implied a negative
approach alien to both club and players and handed the initiative to the
hosts, who never need a second invitation to ride roughshod over any
opponent. This is a new game, but Garcia made similar comments this
week, speaking about the race for second and commenting something along
the lines of "we just need a point, Napoli have to play for the win" and
this could open the game up for a repeat.
The
visitors arrive without favourite son, the talismanic Francesco Totti
(15-5-7) he gives so much to the team just by being on the bench and
even at 37 years of age, is hugely influential.Roma have a 44.5 win rate
without him in the squad, that rises to 76.5% when he is available.
Also missing today is suspended defensive midfielder Daniele De Rossi (23-1-0) and Roma always looks far more vulnerable without him in their ranks.
Hosts get Gonzalo Higuain and Raul Albiol back from suspension and look in great shape for this.
1.5 units Napoli -0.25 ball 2.12 asian line/Ibramarket.
Napoli have scored a high 57% of home goals before the break , Roma have scored just 15% of road goals in the opening 30 minutes so a good chance for the hosts to get ahead, especially if the visitors arrive with even a slightly negative mind set.
Good Luck.
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