Torino vs Napoli
In a span of week, Torino will face another Serie A title contender, this time, against Napoli in their home pitch at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino on Sunday.
After back-to-back wins against AC Milan and Sampdoria, they lost a close one against Parma a few days ago, but that won’t dampen their confidence for one bit in this upcoming match ahead.
Napoli, meanwhile, will look to shrug off their subpar start for this season. Save for their surprise loss against Cagliari, Gli Azzurri have been on a roll with key wins against Sampdoria, Lecce, Brescia, and even Liverpool in the Champions League.
As it stands now, Napoli are in 4th place with 12 points, while Torino are not far behind with nine points and sitting at the 8th spot.
For now, we discuss some talking points on this match ahead here at SBOBET.
Talking points
Torino’s work in progress
It’s no secret that Torino are chasing for a Europa League berth and their Serie A 2019 odds of finishing in the top-six are well within reach given their stronger overall play as of late.
Led by star striker Andrea Belotti, Walter Mazzarri’s side has formed a good nucleus composed by the likes of Simone Zaza, Armando Izzo, and Simone Verdi. Six games in, I Granata have poured in 10 goals already.
They are indeed a fun to watch, particularly on the attack where they average around 3.3 goals per game. An in-form Belotti and Walter Mazzarri’s emphasis on pushing the pace will surely be a handful to deal with for the Napoli defence who will be missing some of its key players.
But the challenge for them really is if their defence will hold up for the long season. While they may score a lot in games, they’ve conceded 1.7 goals per contest.
Salvatore Sirigu will be expected to play superb at goal keeper while Armando Izzo and Gleison Bremer will accompany Nicolas Nkoulou, who has renewed his commitment to the squad last month after dealing with some internal issues before.
Napoli to miss some of their key players
Similar to Torino, Napoli is strong out front with their key cogs in Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and youngster Hirving Lozano – who was signed for a five-year, €40-million deal over the summer.
Lozano is expected to bring out some of the best Serie A 2019 highlights after two impressive seasons with PSV in the Dutch Eredivisie. During his time there, the Mexican skipper netted 17 goals and eight assists plus winning a title in his debut campaign.
It will be up for Carlo Ancelotti on how he’ll further develop the young turk, but some fans might wonder as to why he isn’t inserted in the starting XI as much as people would expect.
For starters, Lozano has already had a brief history on knee injuries. With him being on demand for his professional clubs and national team commitments, the wear and tear may have caught up with him at times.
Nonetheless, he still provides quality and energy whenever he’s brought into the pitch. It also helps that he will be guided by his veterans to fast track his development.
For this upcoming game against I Granata, Gli Azzurri will have holes to fill on defence as they’ll miss the services of the suspended Kalidou Koulibaly, and the injured Lorenzo Tonelli and Nikola Maksimovic. Elseid Hysaj will have to step it up along with Kosta Manolas at least for the time being.
Ancelotti may have all the ingredients to finish at least in the same place last term. However, with rising teams like Inter Milan and Atalanta, they may be in for a tougher ride than expected this season.
History
I Granata and Gli Azzurri have faced each other in 28 total matches where the latter has won in 12, the former with five, along with 11 draws.
Napoli have been the dominant side lately against Torino. The Walter Mazzarri-mentored squad has won 10 out of their last 13 games against them and they chipped in 13 goals in their last five encounters.
Save for their match last February, goals are easy to come by for both of these squads, and I do expect the same thing here.
In their match last season in the same venue, it was Napoli who scored a 3-1 victory against Torino.
Betting Tip
Torino vs Napoli | Napoli Asian Handicap -0.25 @1.70 | |
October 7 12:00(GMT+8) |
For this match, the home team doesn’t look to have the advantage with 3.90 odds to win and Napoli are at 1.88, while a possible draw is placed at 3.60.
I expect Gli Azzurri to come away with a victory given their deeper lineup out front. With the game looking to be a high-scoring one, it is Napoli who look to have more firepower here.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH: | |||
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= €20 (Highly confident) | = €10 (CONFIDENT) | = €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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