Napoli vs Lazio prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-03-02 19:45.
Napoli’s seemingly inevitable march towards their first Serie A (SA) title since 1989/90 continued with a 2-0 win at Empoli on Saturday which extended their lead at the top of the table to 18 points. Such has been their dominance in recent weeks that following their eighth consecutive league victory, prediction analysts Opta now give them a 99.9% chance of winning the title!
Now 14 matches since the Partenopei’s last home league defeat (W12, D2), that percentage is unlikely to drop any time soon as they’ve won each of the last six H2Hs against Lazio here. With Napoli scoring an average of four goals per game across the last three of those meetings, manager Luciano Spalletti must be confident of improving his personal H2H record against opposite number Maurizio Sarri (W5, D2, L1).
Sarri was happy with Lazio’s Monday night 1-0 win over Sampdoria which guaranteed they’ll start this contest in the top five, and they’re hitting form at the right time as they chase European qualification (W3, D2, L1). He admitted they weren’t at their best when recently drawing 0-0 at Cluj in the UEFA Europa Conference League (Feb 23), but said he “liked the team overall”.
Keeping it tight and striking late seems to be Lazio’s blueprint for success, as they’ve kept a first-half clean sheet in 20 of their 24 league games this term – nobody across Europe’s top-five leagues has done so more often. So if anybody can stop the in-form Napoli frontline, it could be the visitors, as only Napoli have conceded as few goals (seven) in league away action as Lazio have this term.
Players to watch: By scoring against Empoli, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen netted in his eighth consecutive SA appearance and he might be eyeing the record jointly held by Gabriel Batistuta, Fabio Quagliarella and Cristiano Ronaldo (11). Sarri was full of praise for Luis Alberto (LAZ) after his goal against Sampdoria, his sixth consecutive league strike to arrive after the 55th minute.
Hot stat: There were goals during both halves in five of the last six H2Hs (Napoli: W5, L1).