Fiorentina – Napoli
Fiorentina welcomes Napoli in one of the most interesting games of the 18th round of the Italian Serie A.
The home team will try to bounce back after two consecutive defeats, while Napoli is currently enjoying a great run of three wins in a row. You could see that we are talking about two teams in a very different condition at the moment.
Napoli is still the highest scoring team in the Serie A with 37 goals scored so far. But they are also still 8 points behind the champion and current leader Juventus. Maurizio Sarri’s team won four of its last five games in the Serie A, but they need to continue winning, because this season in the Serie A the competition for a place in the Champions League is just huge. Lazio, Milan, Atalanta and Inter are looking like strong contenders for the Top 3, so Napoli need to continue winning, if they want to feel more secure about their faith.
Fiorentina on the other hand continues to struggle. The La Viola is 8 points behind Napoli and the Champions League football, which is not corrensponding with the club’s high ambitions. In its last two games Fiorentina lost against Genoa and Lazio, which once again casted some doubts about Paulo Sousa’s work in Florence.
Maurizio Sarri still can’t rely on the heavily injured Arkadiusz Milik, while Kalidou Koulibaly is doubtful for the match. In its last game Napoli scored five goals against Torino and four of them were scored by Dries Mertens. The Belgian international is surely the player to watch in this clash as well.
Fiorentina’s manager Paulo Sousa will probably be without the services of Gonzalo Rodriguez, who has a stomach flu. The good news come from the condition of Borja Valero and Nenad Tomovic, who are once again ready to play.