Napoli will look to continue their unbeaten start to the Serie A season when they travel to Rome this Sunday to take on fellow title hopefuls AS Roma.
Venue: Stadio Olimpico
Key Statistics
AS Roma have lost just two Serie A home games since the turn of the year (W7, D4).
They have won four of their six home games this season (L2).
The hosts have won their last three Serie A games.
Napoli have won five competitive away matches in a row, scoring 12 goals after the break during that run.
The visitors have had 15 different players getting on the scoresheet this season, the most from any team in major European competition.
Seven of their 25 Serie A goals have been scored by a substitute.
They have won their last ten games in all competitions.
Luciano Spalletti’s men are unbeaten in their last 18 games in all competitions (W16, D2).
Head to head
In 152 Serie A meetings between both sides, AS Roma have 51 wins while Napoli have 47 wins (D53).
Latest performances in all competitions
AS Roma: W-D-W-L-W
Napoli: W-W-W-W-W
AS Roma
AS Roma will look to win their fourth consecutive win on the bounce when they welcome Napoli to the 152nd edition of the Derby del Sole in the Italian topflight.
José Mourinho’s men have enjoyed a remarkable run of form in the league recently with three straight wins against Inter Milan (2-1), Lecce (2-1) and Sampdoria, who they beat 1-0 last time.
And so they come into this tie sitting inside the top four after recording 22 points from the 30 points available this season (W7, D2, L1). Their points tally after ten league games this season is three points more than they did last season after 10 matches, and their total in the current season is also four points higher than it was two seasons ago at the same stage.
This shows how much improvement Mourinho has brought to the Rome-based club who are looking to replicate their success in Europe last season when they won the inaugural campaign of the Europa Conference League this year in the league.
But having not beaten Napoli just once in their last six attempts, I Giallorossi will have to dig deep to get a win against this free-scoring Napoli side.
Possible Roma starting line-up
Rui Patricio; Gianluca Mancini, Chris Smalling, Roger Ibanez; Nicola Zalewski, Bryan Cristante, Nemanja Matić, Leonardo Spinazzola; Nicolo Zaniolo, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Tammy Abraham.
Injured: Georginio Wijnaldum, Zeki Celik, Paulo Dybala
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Napoli
When it looked like they were dead and buried, Napoli rose from the ashes last time out to record a 3-2 win over Bologna.
Despite controlling much of the game, the hosts could not break down a stubborn Bologna side, who against the run of play took a shock lead in the 41st minute through Joshua Zirkzee. But Napoli rallied through Juan Jesus and Hirving Lozano, who both scored to give them a 2-1 lead.
Bologna pulled level in the 51st minute through Musa Barrow’s long-distance shot to stun the Diego Serie A leaders. However, substitute Victor Osimhen fired in a crucial winner to ensure that Napoli continued their impressive run and record their tenth win on the bounce in all competitions.
The result also extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 18 games (W16, D2) and kept their place at the top of the table. This is even though they have picked up two points less than they did last season after 10 matches.
The Partenopei will travel to the Eternal City full of confidence, having already produced some incredible numbers this term, one of which is their 202 shot attempts across 14 competitive matches this term. That figure has been only bettered by Bayern Munich (206) amongst teams from the top five European leagues.
Possible Napoli starting line-up
Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Juan Jesus, Kim Min-Jae, Mario Rui; Andre Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski; Matteo Politano, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Giacomo Raspadori.
Injured: Amir Rrahmani
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Roma 1-3 Napoli
