Sassuolo vs Napoli prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2025-08-22 16:30.
[p]Sassuolo mark their immediate return to Serie A in arguably the most difficult fashion possible as they host Scudetto holders Napoli on opening weekend.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]No side in Serie B collected more home points than Sassuolo (44) last season, and their home form could once again be crucial if they’re to beat the drop this time around. Perhaps owing to the fact they’re likely to have much less of the ball in the top-flight, boss Fabio Grosso has strengthened mainly in defence, bringing in Fali Candé and Jay Idzes from relegated Venezia in an attempt to bolster the third-meanest backline in Serie B last season. Defence could well hold the key to Sassuolo improving upon a poor opening day record in Serie A from 2019/20 onwards (W1, L4).[/p]
[p]Napoli were beaten 3-0 on the road in their first fixture of 2024/25, a result which ended a seven-game winning streak on the opening day for the Partenopei. They went on to lose only one further Serie A away game across the campaign on their way to winning a fourth title. Unwilling to rest on their laurels, Antonio Conte’s men have notably signed Kevin de Bruyne, who joins on a free transfer alongside a number of other attacking recruits. Conte will hope those signings can bring more firepower to his front line to complement a defence which recorded the most clean sheets (19) in Europe’s top-five leagues in 2024/25.[/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]Napoli are unbeaten in 20 of their 22 Serie A matches against Sassuolo (W13, D7). They won both fixtures in 2023/24, including a 6-1 victory at the CittĂ del Tricolore, and will be targeting a sixth successive three points against Sassuolo this Saturday.[/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]Sassuolo failed to keep a clean sheet across their final four home games last season (W2, D1, L2).[/p]
[p]Sassuolo conceded the final goal of the game in each of their last three home games in Serie A (D1, L2).[/p]
[p]Napoli’s last five away league games witnessed under 2.5 goals.[/p]
[p]Napoli scored more than once in just one of their last eight away league games.[/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Domenico Berardi made his Serie A debut against Napoli in September 2013 and has been involved in four goals (G2, A2) in his last five league games against them. Scott McTominay scored in Napoli’s championship-winning fixture against Cagliari, which made it eight direct goal contributions (G6, A2) from the Scot across their final seven games of last season.[/p]
[p]Sassuolo have no new injury concerns, while Napoli will be without Romelu Lukaku and new signing Miguel Gutiérrez.[/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]With four shutouts from their final five away games last season, backing a Napoli clean sheet looks like a solid bet.[/p]
[p][i]Author: Tom Penn[/i][/p]