Hellas Verona vs Napoli 24/06/20

24 June 2020

Fresh from winning Coppa Italia, Napoli (6th) return to Serie A (SA) action this weekend, as they head to the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi to take on Hellas Verona (7th) with just a single point separating the sides ahead of the kick-off.

A 2-1 home triumph over Cagliari now means that Verona lost only once in ten league fixtures since the turn of the year (W5, D4), with four of those six results (win/loss) yielding the identical 2-1 scoreline. At home in Serie A, the Mastiffs have won six of their last eight games (D1, L1), including the previous four, with five of those successes producing a single-goal margin and four seeing the same 2-1 score. Also, even though Verona conceded the opening goal (if any) in seven of 13 league home matches, Ivan Juric’s men have lost just three such clashes (W2, D2).

Meanwhile, the visitors had racked up three consecutive league victories before the pandemic curtailed their momentum, which now means that none of their nine SA games in 2020 has ended in a draw (W5, L4). As a reflection of true ‘Gennaro Gattuso grit’ running through their veins, eight of Napoli’s 11 SA results during his tenure have yielded a narrow one-goal margin. But, the Partenopei have suffered just one defeat from their last seven league away matches (W4, D2), although only one of those games has featured a final margin of over 1.5 goals. That’s a sharp contrast to Napoli’s last four top-flight trips to Verona (W3, L1). Indeed, each of those H2Hs has seen the winner on the day secure a comfortable two-goal margin success.