Lecce vs Napoli prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-09-29 13:00.
Lecce’s impressive unbeaten start to the 2023/24 Serie A (SA) season ended with Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat against Juventus, after which manager Roberto D’Aversa said that the “referee made some incorrect evaluations”, but also admitted that it was “not why we lost the game”. Still, with 11 points after the opening six rounds (W3, D2, L1), the Giallorossi are experiencing their best top-flight start since 2004/05.
This is especially positive because Lecce were considered one of the leading relegation candidates heading into the season, and they ended the 2004/05 campaign in a respectable 11th place. The home fans will also be optimistic heading to Stadio Via del Mare because the side from Apulia have won all four competitive outings at home this term, keeping a clean sheet in three of those.
According to D’Aversa’s opposite number Rudi Garcia, defending champions Napoli needed to “rediscover their smile” in their latest match against Udinese after a series of disappointing results and “clumsy incidents on social media”, which understandably didn’t please striker Victor Osimhen. Wednesday’s 4-1 win certainly seemed to help them hit that goal as the Partenopei celebrated their first league win in four outings, with Osimhen getting on the scoresheet.
However, with 11 points after the first six SA rounds, Napoli are experiencing their worst start to a top-flight season since 2015/16 and more improvements are required. Their performances on the road certainly need to get better, as the visitors have won just once on their travels in the league this term (D2) and will be keen to avoid consecutive away SA scoring blanks for the first time since December 2020!
Players to watch: Lecce top scorer Nikola Krstović has scored three of his five competitive club goals this term inside the opening ten minutes. Napoli’s Piotr ZieliĹ„ski stepped in for usual penalty-taker Osimhen last time out and opened the scoring – his fourth goal contribution already this season (G2, A2).
Hot stat: Lecce have scored five of their eight SA goals this season after the 76th minute and have let in none during this portion of their matches.