Napoli vs Juventus

The sides that have experienced contrasting fortunes across their opening two Serie A matches will trade tackles at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as Napoli take on Juventus in a blockbuster clash.

Luciano Spalletti has painted his early managerial career at Napoli with flying colors, beating newly-promoted Venezia and struggling Genoa by an aggregate score of 4-1 to announce his side’s title ambitions. Action-packed football in the later stages highlighted those two matches, with four of Napoli’s five goals scored/conceded in that sequence coming beyond the 60th minute. In turn, four of the Partenopei’s last five goals netted in top-flight H2Hs at home have arrived beyond the hour mark. The hosts now entertain the prospect of starting back-to-back Serie A seasons with three straight victories for the second time in their top-flight history after doing so in 2012/13 and 2013/14. Unbeaten in their last 12 home Serie A fixtures on the trot (W9, D3), Napoli are aiming for a third consecutive home league win over Juventus for the first time in a decade.

On the other hand, unlike his Napoli counterpart, re-appointed manager Massimiliano Allegri has experienced a sluggish start to his second managerial stint in Turin. After turning a 2-0 half-time lead into a dismal 2-2 draw away to Udinese on the opening weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo-less Juventus suffered a dreadful 1-0 home defeat to newly-promoted Empoli last time out. Leonardo Mancuso’s winner at the Allianz Arena extended Juventus’ embarrassing run without a Serie A clean sheet to 16 matches. Additionally, the ‘Bianconeri‘ now face the risk of starting a new top-flight campaign winless in their inaugural three fixtures for only the second time in the 52-year-long Serie A history. Curiously, though, Allegri was at the helm when Juventus went winless in their first three games of a new top-flight season back in 2015/16.