Napoli vs Salernitana

The stakes are high as Napoli and Salernitana go head-to-head in a must-win Serie A fixture at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Napoli’s dreadful run of form toward the end of 2023 continued at the start of the new calendar year as Torino outclassed the reigning Serie A holders in a one-sided 3-0 win. Now scoreless in four consecutive matches (D1, L3), ‘I Partenopei’ commence this round a whopping 20 points below table-topping Inter Milan. More importantly, they’re five points off fourth-placed Fiorentina amid talks linking decorated manager Antonio Conte with a move to Naples. Caretaker boss Walter Mazzarri must stem the bleeding after overseeing just one win in his last six home league matches (D2, L3). Indeed, only four Serie A clubs have amassed fewer home points than Napoli’s 11 this season, highlighting the significance of winning a fifth top-flight clash against Salernitana this century (W4, D1).

In the meantime, Salernitana couldn’t have imagined a worse start to 2024 after racking up a two-game unbeaten Serie A streak at the tail-end of 2023 (W1, D1). Following a 6-1 thumping at Juventus in the Coppa Italia, Filippo Inzaghi’s side surrendered a first-half lead in a 2-1 defeat to the same opposition last weekend, finishing the first half of the season nailed to the bottom of the table. But survival is still a realistic prospect for the Salerno outfit as they trail 17th-placed by only three points despite winning just two of their 19 Serie A outings this term (D6, L11). Particularly wasteful on the road, ‘I Granata’ have lost six of their nine away league matches in 2023/24 (W1, D2), netting a meager six goals at an average of 0.66 per game.