SSC Napoli – AS Roma 09.03.2014
The last match in the 27th round of the Italian Serie A brings us two neighbours at the table, which are fighting for the second place and direct placement in the Champions League. At this point, Roma is holding this position with six points more and one game less than the third Napoli, which has on the other hand eliminated the Romans in the semi-finals of the Italian Cup, and thus continued the tradition that the hosts regularly celebrate in their mutual matches. Begins: 09.03.2014 – 20:45 CET
SSC Napoli
The Neapolitans will now obviously give their best to overcome their great rivals from the Italian capital city, especially because they would thus have only three points less. However , coach Benitez is currently a bit concerned about the fact that his players played three draws in the last four matches, while they only celebrated Swansea at home in the 1/16 finals of European League, with which they also achieved placement in the next round, where they will face an extremely unpleasant Porto.However, these two consecutive draws in Serie A have slowed them down a little bit in an effort to get hold of that second position on the table, so this will certainly be one of their main goals by the end of the season, especially since they have already ensured placement in the finals of the Italian Cup. We should also add the fact that Napoli was not defeated in the last seven games which is why we do not expect any radical changes against Roma, while they only cannot count on the injured goalkeeper Rafael and defenders Mesto and Zuniga.
Probable lineups SSC Napoli: Reina – Maggio, Fernandez, Albiol, Ghoulam – Inler, Jorginho – Callejon, Hamsik, Mertens – Higuain
AS Roma
As for the Romans, they can certainly be proud of the fact that they experienced only two defeats this season, first against the leading Juventus as guests and then in the already mentioned semi-final match of the Italian Cup, when Napoli mastered them with 3-0 at San Paolo. However, after that match coach Garcia’s players have managed to bind two victories in the championship, against Sampdoria and Bologna, while they still disappointed their fans during this last weekend, when they played only 0-0 at their Olimpico against Inter.
That is why their backlog behind the leading Juventus has again increased to 11 points, so this and the fact that they have one game less than the “Old Lady”, means that we will not see an uncertain fight for the Scudetto. This is why the most important thing for them now is to at least retain that second place in the championship so they will probably try to remain undefeated in this duel with Napoli. As for the composition, the injured defender Balzaretti and striker Totti are still out of action, as well as the suspended midfielder De Rossi.
Probable lineups AS Roma: De Sanctis – Maicon, Benatia, Castan, Torosidis – Pjanic, Nainggolan, Strootman – Gervinho, Destro, Florenzi
SSC Napoli – AS Roma Pick
Although both teams had some setbacks in the last round, we should still bear in mind that this probably the last chance for the team of Napoli to stay in this fight for second place in Serie A table, which is why we decided to give them a slight advantage in this match just like we did in the recent Cup match.
Pick: Napoli AH0 (Draw No Bet)
Stake: 5/10
Odds: 1.67
