Napoli vs Bologna prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2024-08-24 18:45.
[p]New Napoli manager Antonio Conte was compelled to publicly apologise to supporters for the club’s worst Serie A opening round result of this century – a 3-0 loss to Hellas Verona, who finished only three points ahead of the relegation zone last season. That came one week after the club needed penalties to get past Serie B side Modena in the Coppa Italia, prompting fears that the woes of their disastrous title defence of 2023/24 (tenth) are not yet behind them.[/p]
[p]They even finished the previous Serie A season as a bottom-half club for home form, winning just one-third of their fixtures in front of their fans when graded as favourites (W6, D7, L5). That includes a 2-0 loss to upcoming opponents Bologna in their penultimate home game of the Serie A season, and based on even more recent performances, those heading to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium can be forgiven for feeling apprehensive about their team’s chances here.[/p]
[p]Conte will also be aware of the threat ahead of him, having just two months ago described highly-rated Bologna manager Vincenzo Italiano as “one of the most promising coaches” when Italiano helped lead Fiorentina to a top-half finish and a second successive Conference League final. His official debut as Bologna boss was impressive and they could be considered unlucky that they couldn’t convert 74% possession and 22 goal attempts into more than a 1-1 draw at home to Udinese.[/p]
[p]Italiano will be targeting at least a third consecutive top-half finish for Bologna and it’s imperative that they earn as many points as they can before having to deal with the physical burden of a long-awaited return to European football. But considering Napoli’s frailties and their own almost unbeaten record as away outsiders last Serie A season (W4, D6, L1 -losing only to Italiano’s Fiorentina in November), they have plenty to be confident about. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: You’d have to go back to March to find Napoli’s last Serie A home win, when Giacomo Raspadori delivered a match winner against Juventus. They were unbeaten across the past two seasons when he scored (W9, D2).  Bologna right back Stefan Posch is on a personal 14-game winning streak when he scores, the most recent of which was against Napoli last season.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Nine of Bologna’s last 12 Serie A games produced under 2.5 total goals. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Aaron Murphy[/i][/p]