Napoli vs AC Milan prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-10-28 19:45.
Sunday’s Serie A (SA) action will be rounded off with a meeting between the last two winners of the Scudetto when defending champions Napoli play host to AC Milan. Rudi Garcia’s Partenopei have looked more like their old selves in recent weeks, as after securing an important 3-1 win over Hellas Verona to return to the top four in Serie A, they took one step closer to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) with victory away to Union Berlin (1-0).
Napoli are yet to secure three successive wins yet this season, and if that’s to change they will need to improve on home soil after losing twice in six days at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona earlier this month, conceding three times in each (3-1 to Fiorentina and 3-2 to Real Madrid). They last lost three consecutive home games in November 2020, an unwanted streak at risk of being repeated given their next opponents are unbeaten in their last five visits to this venue (W3, D2).
That sequence includes a thumping 4-0 victory in April, and a 1-1 draw that knocked Napoli out of the previous UCL later that month. The Rossoneri would perhaps cherish an extension to that streak even more, as a 1-0 loss to Juventus saw Stefano Pioli’s men relinquish their place at the top of the SA table. That was before they were on the end of a 3-0 UCL trouncing in Paris on Wednesday, the third time in four competitive games they failed to score (W1, D1, L2).
Pioli admitted some “concern” about their recent results, so Milan will be grateful to be hitting the road after winning each of their last five SA matches outside the San Siro. Keeping 11 men on the pitch would certainly be helpful, as the Rossoneri have been reduced to ten men in each of their last two SA matches, although they can at least welcome goalkeeper Mike Maignan back from suspension.
Key battle: Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is rediscovering his best form, directly contributing to six goals in his last four appearances for club and country. Standing in his way will be Maignan, who has avoided defeat in each of his three trips there (W2, D1), keeping clean sheets in both victories.
Hot stat: Napoli are yet to score inside the opening 15 minutes of a SA match this season.