Serie A: The Unlikely Lads Meet in Naples – and its Diego’s Birthday!

Napoli vs Sassuolo

Second versus third in Serie A and the sides occupying those places, your honour, are….

Well, whatever answer you were expecting I bet it wasn’t Napoli and, even less so, Sassuolo.

Yet after creating many of the early 2020/21 Serie A highlights between them to date, that is the position both clubs find themselves in going into the weekend.

Talking Points

That Napoli are doing well is not necessarily such a surprise but, even still, I didn’t expect them to have started the new campaign quite so well.

On paper, four wins out of five but even the defeat attributed to them was more than harsh after Serie A’s disciplinary committee decided in their wisdom (not much!) to dock Gennaro Gattuso’s men a point for failing to fulfil a fixture.

So effectively, Napoli have won all their games so far, including a resounding showing against Atalanta a fortnight ago, and had an impressive win in Spain in the Europa League last night.

This weekend they will go in search of another victory, albeit without captain Lorenzo Insigne who picked up a thigh strain in Sociedad (he only recently returned after an injury sustained in last month’s 6-0 romp against Genoa.

With the influential Kalidou Koulibaly declaring his commitment to the club this week, it’s not all been bad news.

Serie A: Napoli are expected to go all-out against Sassuolo — Kalidou Koulibaly in action for Napoli during their Europa League match against Real Sociedad

Given that the club went into 2020 having parted company with Carlo Ancelotti and with player unrest, Gattuso has slowly overseen an improvement and ultimately will hope to continue the progress made by his predecessor.

Similarly to Napoli, Sassuolo have also been hit by Covid-19 yet, because of the unfair rules which cost Napoli a point last month, they dare not ask for a game to be postponed.

This week the club announced three new cases in the squad and confirmed Lukas Haraslin had tested positive.

Hopefully, there will be no more as the little club from the Emilia-Romagna region only have a small squad, even if they have been punching above their weight for some time now and have an ex-Napoli man masterminding their success.

For Roberto De Zerbi is the architect behind the rise of the Neroverdi, receiving plaudits from all corners for the attacking and entertaining style his side tries to play.

They are unbeaten so far this season with three wins and two draws in their five league games

Certainly, their spirit has also been a major factor with De Zerbi admitted his side never gives in following last week’s 3-3 draw with Torino.

The Neroverdi fought back from 3-1 down in the closing stages, just days after they came from 3-1 to beat Bologna 4-3.

It means they have picked up five points from trailing situations in just five Serie A round.

With a character like that, another positive result is possible this weekend, even if the SBOTOP Serie A betting odds are stacked against them.

Second meets third in Naples and, during the weekend its most famous son celebrates his 60th birthday, Napoli players will have an extra incentive to win.

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Serie A

History

Elseid Hysaj and Allan were the scorers in this fixture last season – just three months ago (in late July) – when Napoli ran out 2-0 winners.

In the earlier fixture last term, it took a stoppage time own goal to give Napoli the victory after Hamed Junior Traorè and Allan had traded goals.

Of their meetings, Sassuolo have only won once. That was in August 2015 since when they have been defeated five times with a further four draws in league and cup.

Napoli won this fixture 2-0 two years ago also, thanks to goals from Adam Ounas and Insigne.

Overall, Napoli have nine successes with five draws and that sole Sassuolo success. All of their games have taken place since the latter were promoted to the top flight in 2013.