Serie A: Napoli vs Lazio preview

Serie A leaders Napoli face a tough test on Saturday evening as they host third-placed Lazio at San Paolo Stadium in Naples. The reverse fixture was dominated by Napoli, they won it 4-1 and four different players scored: Koulibaly, Callejon, Mertens and Jorginho. In fact, Napoli have dominated the battles with Lazio in recent years, winning four of the last five direct matches. Lazio have not won a match against Napoli since 2015, when they secured a spectacular 4-2 victory in Naples. Napoli are on a seven-match winning streak in Serie A and it seems this season they can really push the title race with Juventus all the way and maybe even win it. They have lost just one of their 23 league matches so far this season and won no less than 19 of them. Last weekend they secured an easy 2-0 success at bottom side Benevento but Dries Mertens picked up a knock and might be forced to miss Saturday's match. Arkadiusz Milik and Faouzi Ghoulam are fitness doubts ahead of this match. Lazio had a solid season so far, but things might get out of hand after two consecutive defeats. They are currently third in the Serie A table, but they are just one point ahead of Inter and two points ahead of Roma, and if they keep losing matches they will easily slip out of the top four. On Monday they lost 2-1 at home against 13th-placed Genoa as things seem to get nasty in the dressing room. In fact, Felipe Anderson had an unorthodox encounter with head coach Simone Inzaghi in training and he won't be called up for Saturday's match. Probable line-ups: Napoli: Reina - Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Rui - Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik - Callejon, Mertens, Insigne Lazio: Strakosha - Wallace, De Vrij, Radu - Marusic, Leiva, Parolo, Lulic - Alberto, Milinkovic-Savic - Immobile My prediction: Napoli to win 1-0. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Napoli win - 1.61 Draw - 4.33 Lazio win - 5.00