Preview Napoli vs AC Milan
The central match of Serie A Round 8 is surely Napoli vs AC Milan.
The current Serie A season is set to be the best one in recent years, with no clear favorite on the scene.
The top 8 teams in the standings are separated by mere 4 points! Crucially, all “top” 7 clubs of Italy are in this top 8, with seasons dark horse Sassuolo topping the league with 18 points (5W 3D 0L).
Napoli and AC Milan are occupying 2nd and 6th place respectively. The latter having the chance today to reclaim the lead of the table. On the other hand, if Napoli wins, they will draw level with AS Roma and AC Milan for 2,3,4 positions. Yes, it’s that close!
All top teams except Atalanta secured crucial 3 points in this 8th round, Napoli – AC Milan being the last one of the weekend, puts extra pressure on both teams.
Analysis Napoli vs AC Milan
Let’s start with missing players.
Napoli Missing Players:
E. Hysaj (Illness)
V. Osimhen (Arm Injury)
A. Rrahmani (Illness)
AC Milan Missing Players:
R. Leao (Thigh Injury)
M. Musacchio (Muscle Injury)
Fortunately for the viewers, no crucial figure on either team will be missing today’s match. Although it has to be said that Milan is missing more important players overall (in the form of Rafael Leao)
Both teams are coming in hot for this match-up. Bookmakers slightly favor the Napoli side though:
2.20 @ Napoli to win
3.50 @ Draw
3.20 @ AC Milan to win
(source: www.bwin.com as of 22.11.2020 18:00 CET)
A significant 13 of the last 15 games in Napoli’s current streak of competitive fixtures won/lost have favored the opening scorers. Within that sequence, the same can be said about ten of Napoli’s last 11 league matches, and the average win/loss margin across those 11 games stands at 2.27 goals.
AC Milan remains unbeaten in the league (home/away) since the end of last season’s COVID-enforced hiatus (W14, D5). Eleven of those wins came via a 2+ goal margin, while eight of the last nine wins therein saw Milan lead at HT by one goal. In turn, Milan boasts an impressive 73.33% rate of HT/FT doubles across their last 15 SA wins
Players to watch
Napoli’s Dries Mertens is a prime threat, seeing half of his last six SA home goals open the scoring inside the first 15 minutes.
The “GOD” Zlatan Ibrahimović accounts for three of Milan’s last four SA away openers to arrive inside the first 20 minutes of play. He has averaged 1.0 first-half goals across the Rossoneri’s last six away league victories.
Fun Fact: The two ‘players to watch’ have notched a combined total of 155 SA goals for their respective current clubs, with over a quarter (28.39%) proving decisive in victory.
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