Napoli vs Bologna 30/12/18

30 December 2018

Napoli welcome Bologna to the Stadio San Paolo looking to bounce back from midweek’s 1-0 loss to Inter Milan.

The hosts have failed to take advantage of Juventus’ blunder in Bergamo, losing to the Nerazzurri, as they now have to secure all three points to prevent the Bianconeri from extending an already wide gap. A failure at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza has brought Napoli’s four-game Serie A winning run to an end, as it was also the third time this season the Partenopei struggled to score in the domestic championship. However, the Blues boast an almost perfect home record (W7, D2) having won three out of last four home games, keeping a clean sheet three times in the run. Only Roma (24) scored more goals at home than Napoli (20) this term, with Carlo Ancelotti’s men notching a minimum of two goals per match in five out of nine local encounters.

Bologna come into this meeting following a 2-0 home defeat to Lazio, which was a third consecutive match in which Filippo Inzaghi’s men struggled to hit the back of the net. The visitors are going through a dreadful spell considering they’ve lost five out of the previous 11 Serie A clashes, failing to wrap up all three points in that period. Furthermore, the Rossoblu are one of three teams that are yet to win on the road (D4, L5), while they hold the joint-worst goalscoring record in the Italian top tier competition, having scored just six goals in nine road games so far. The Greyhounds have failed to score on five road trips while managed to keep a clean sheet just twice in the process.

Provisional line-up – Napoli:

Gk: Meret Defense: Mario Rui – Maksimovic – Raul Albiol – Callejon Midfield: Diawara – Hamsik – Fabian Ruiz – Allan Attack: Mertens – Milik

Provisional line-up – Bologna:

Gk: Skorupski Defense: Calabresi – Helander – Danilo – Mattiello Midfield: Poli – Svandberg – Nagy – Krejci Attack: Okwonwo – Santander