Napoli will host visiting Inter Milan in an exciting matchup in the Italian soccer's first division. Napoli is looking to bounce back from a 4-2 loss to Real Madrid in their last Champions League game. In that game, Napoli had 47% possession and took 11 shots, three of which were on target, with goals contributed by Giovanni Simeone and Franck Anguissa. Comparatively, Real Madrid took 20 shots, nine of which were on target, with goals contributed by Rodrigo, Jude Bellingham, Niko Paz and Joselu.
It's rare to see Napoli not concede a goal in recent matches, in fact, in 5 of their last 6 matches they have had their back line breached, conceding a total of 7 goals. We'll soon see if this trend will be maintained in the upcoming matches.
In this upcoming match, Napoli have failed to win any of their last 3 home matches in the league.
Inter Milan drew 3-3 with Benfica in their last Champions League match. In that match, Inter Milan had 59% possession, 13 shots, 8 on goal, with goals scored by Marko Arnautovic, Davide Fratessi and Alexis Sanchez. Opposite Benfica had 11 shots, five of which were on target, with the goal scored by João Mario.
Inter Milan have scored a total of 8 goals in their previous 6 meetings and have scored in each of those games. During this period, their backline conceded a total of 5 goals.
Inter Milan before this game:
Unbeaten in their last 3 league games away from home against Napoli. Have not been beaten in their last 7 league matches away from home. Looking back at the past meetings between the two sides, since December 16, 2020, Napoli have won 1, Inter Milan have won 3, and there have been 2 draws between the two sides.
In those matches, the two teams have scored a total of 15 goals, with Napoli scoring 7 and Inter Milan scoring 8. The average number of goals scored per game was 2.5.
The last time these two teams met in the league was in the 36th round of Serie A on May 21, 2023, when the score was Napoli 3-1 Inter Milan.
In that game, Napoli had 71% possession, 22 shots, 9 on goal, with goals scored by Franck Anguissa, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Gianluca Gaetano.
On the other hand, Inter Milan took six shots, two on goal, and the goal was scored by Romelu Lukaku.
The referee on duty was Livio Marinelli.
For Napoli, two players under manager Walter Mazzarri are unavailable due to injury, with Mario Rui (hamstring injury) and Matias Oliveira (knee injury) set to miss the game.
We think Napoli could go with a 4-3-3 formation for the game, with a starting lineup that includes Alex Meret, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rahmani, Natan, Juan Jesus, Anguissa Zambeau, Stanislaw Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski, Matteo Politano, Viktor Osimhen, and Hosadip Kwalatzkelija. .
For Inter Milan, coach Simone Inzaghi is facing injury problems. Alessandro Bastoni (calf injury) and Benjamin Pavard (dislocated patellar tendon) are not ready to play.
We think Inter could go with a 3-5-2 formation with a starting XI that includes Yann Sommer, Matteo Darmian, Stefan de Vry, Francesco Asselby, Denzel Dumfries, Nicolo Barella, Hakan Charhanoglu, Henrich Mkhitaryan, Federico Di Marco, Marcus Thuram, and Lautaro.
In terms of predictions, we believe Napoli will need to play well to break through Inter's defense, while we think Inter should be able to score in front of the opposing goal and eventually take the lead.
