Two of Italy's best teams in recent years start the new Serie A season with a direct clash, Lazio host Napoli at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on Saturday. Last season Napoli hammered Lazio both home and away, they won both matches 4-1 and Belgium forward Dries Mertens scored in both games. That was the third consecutive win for Napoli against Lazio and fifth in the last six games. However, before that great spell for Napoli, Lazio did get two consecutive wins over the Partenopei, both of them in Naples.
Lazio missed out on a top-four finish last season, they ended up fifth even though they finished tied on 72 points with Inter. This season they are hoping to get back into the top four and get access to the Champions League, but they have lost Felipe Anderson and Stefan de Vrij and didn't seem capable of bringing in suitable replacements. It is true that Joaquin Correa and Federico Acerbi joined them this summer, but they still have to prove their worth at this level. However, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is still at the club, despite rumoured interest from Europe's giants. Jordan Lukaku is injured for the home side, while Senad Lulic, Lucas Leiva and Patric are all suspended.
Napoli are starting a new era this summer after having replaced head coach Maurizio Sarri with Carlo Ancelotti. Despite the arrival of a high-profile manager, the club didn't spend much on player transfers this summer, the only notable arrival is that of young central midfielder Fabian Ruiz, who should replace Jorginho in the middle of the pitch. The Brazilian joined Chelsea along with manager Maurizio Sarri, but Napoli will be hoping at least to repeat their second-place finish from last season. Faouzi Ghoulam, Alex Meret and Amin Younes are all injured and will miss Saturday's match.
Probable line-ups:
Lazio: Strakosha - Wallace, Acerbi, Radu - Marusic, Badelj, Parolo, Durmisi - Milinkovic-Savic, Alberto - Immobile
Napoli: Karnezis - Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Rui - Allan, Hamsik, Ruiz - Callejon, Milik, Insigne
My prediction: Lazio to win 2-1, the home side seem to have a clearer idea of what they want to do on the football pitch while Napoli are still trying to adapt to the style of their new head coach.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Lazio win - 2.87
Draw - 3.40
Napoli win - 2.37
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