Napoli will travel to Cremona this Sunday to face newly-promoted Cremonese in the ninth round of the 2022/23 Serie A season.
Venue: Stadio Giovanni Zini (Cremona)
Key Statistics
Cremonese are winless in eight league games this season.
They have failed to score in their last two home games.
The hosts have conceded 15 goals in the league this season. Only Sampdoria (16) have conceded more goals.
The six goals they have scored in the league is the second-worst goal tally ahead of Sampdoria who have scored just four goals in the league so far.
Napoli have the best attack in the league with 18 goals in eight games.
The visitors have won their last seven games in all competitions.
They are unbeaten in their last 15 competitive games (W13, D2).
Cremonese’s David Okereke has scored his side’s opener in six of his last seven goal-scoring outings.
Head to head
In 12 meetings between both sides, Napoli have won five times while Cremonese have two wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Cremonese: D-L-D-D-L
Napoli: W-W-W-W-W
Cremonese
Bottom-of-the-table Cremonese will face their biggest test yet when they welcome top-of-the-table Napoli to Stadio Giovanni Zini this Sunday.
The host’s first season back in the top-flight in 26 years couldn’t have started any worse as they come into this tie with no win after eight games (D3, L5) for only the second time in their history.
The last time they did so was in their last Serie A campaign which ultimately ended up in relegation and a more than a quarter-century absence from Italy’s top league.
But they have at least shown signs of life recently, earning three hard-fought draws in their last four matches, with the most recent of those draws coming in a 1-1 draw against Lecce last time out.
However, manager Massimiliano Alvini will know sharing the spoils won’t be enough to keep his team up especially as Cremonese remain very poor in attack. The hosts have scored only once across their last four home league matches while keeping just a single clean sheet from their last nine at home, which shows Cremonese need sharpening all round.
Possible Cremonese starting line-up
Ionut Radu; Leonardo Sernicola, Matteo Bianchetti, Luka Lochoshvili, Emanuele Valeri; Michele Castagnetti, Santiago Ascacibar; Luca Zanimacchia, Monginda Pickel, David Okereke; Cyriel Dessers, .
Injured: Vlad Chiriches, Jack Hendry
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Napoli
Napoli will look to keep their impressive run of form going another weekend when they travel to Cremon this Saturday to face Cremonese.
The visitors are flying high this season having won all but two of their opening games of the season to date. They produced their best performance of the season last Tuesday when they beat Ajax 6-1 away from home in the UEFA Champions League.
As a result, they come into this tie sitting on top of their group, having taken maximum points from their opening three UCL games. Not only are they top of their UCL group, but they are also the highest-scoring side in the UCL this season with 13 goals, two ahead of their closest challengers, Manchester City.
In scoring six against Ajax, Luciano Spalletti’s men became the first Italian team to score 10+ goals in their opening three UEFA Champions League Group Stage fixtures.
In the Serie A, they are also the highest-scoring side this season with 18 goals, and they also sit top of the league table on goal difference having won seven out of their nine opening games.
The visitors have won their last seven games in all competitions and will indeed travel to Cremona in confident mode given their recent results and the fact that they have only lost one of their last 18 Serie A away games when starting as the favourite (W13, D4).
Possible Napoli starting line-up
Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rahmani, Kim Min-jae, Mario Rui; Andre Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka; Matteo Politano, Piotr Zielinski, Elif Elmas; Giacomo Raspadori.
Injured: Victor Osimhen.
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Cremonese 0-4 Napoli
