Title-chasing Napoli will continue their quest for the Scudetto with a visit to Bologna on Monday night.
Venue: Stadio Renato Dall’Ara (Bologna)
Key Statistics
Bologna have lost four of their last five games in Serie A.
The hosts have kept three clean sheets in the ten league games they have played at home this season.
Napoli have conceded the least number of goals in the league this season (15).
They have won just one of their last five away games.
Overall, they have failed to score in two of their last six games.
Head to head
The last ten meetings between both sides has featured seven wins for Napoli and just two wins for Bologna (D1).
Latest performances in all competitions
Bologna: L-W-L-L-L
Napoli: L-W-D-L-W
Bologna
Bologna will look to record just their ninth win of the season when they welcome Napoli to Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Monday.
The hosts come into this tie on the back of a 2-1 league loss to Cagliari last Tuesday. The loss was Bologna’s fourth loss in their last five league games.
After going on a run of four wins in five games last November and early December, Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side have now picked up just three points from their last five games, leaving them in 12th place ahead of this round of matches.
Despite their struggles, the hosts remain within the mid-table. They can climb into the top ten if they win this game and results elsewhere go in their favour.
Possible Bologna starting line-ups
Lukasz Skorupski, Kevin Bonifazi, Luis Binks, Arthur Theate, Andreas Skov Olsen, Roberto Soriano, Nicolas Dominguez, Matthias Svanberg, Marko Arnautovic, Ricardo Orsolini
Injured: Aaron Hickey, Gray Medel, Kingsley Michael, Frederico Santander, Emanuel Vignato
Unavailable (AFCON): Musa Barrow, Mbaye
Suspended: None
Napoli
After a very disappointing loss to Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia last Wednesday, Napoli will turn their attention to their Scudetto quest on Monday.
Luciano Spalletti’s side were sent packing from the Coppa Italia by Fiorentina who defeated them 5-2. The loss was Napoli’s second loss in their last four games, highlighting the level of inconsistency that the visitors are currently suffering from.
Early this season, Gli Azzurri were the model of consistency as they beat every team in their path on their road to a 12-game unbeaten run, and an extended stay at the top of the table.
But since a 3-2 loss to Inter in late November, Napoli have been a shadow of themselves.
In the eleven games they have played since that time in all competitions, they have lost five, drawn two and won just four. Such poor overall form has seen them relinquish their grip of the leagues’ top spot to Inter Milan, who they now trail by six points, having played a game more.
With Juventus now in form and picking up points at a more regular rate, Spalletti’s side are in danger of not just crashing completely out from the title race, but also dropping out of the race for a top-four finish.
They will be desperate to avoid such a scenario and will look to pick up maximum points from this encounter.
Possible Napoli starting line-ups
David Ospina; Juan Jesus, Faouzi Ghoulam, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani; Diego Demme, Stanislav Lobotka, Eljif Elmas; Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne, Andrea Petagna.
Injured: Mario Ruis
Unavailable (AFCON): Andre Zambo Anguissa, Kalidou Koulibaly, Adam Ounas
Suspended: None
Prediction
Bologna 1-3 Napoli
