Two of the biggest teams in Italy come together for a huge match as Serie A returns from the international break. Match week 30 of the season sees table-toppers, Juventus, visit 3^rd-placed Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo. Juventus are 8 points clear at the top of the table as Roma sit between them and Napoli who are only 2 points from Roma and can close the gap at the top to just 7 points if they beat Juve.

STATS

• Napoli have been in great form and have won 4 of their last 5 games with their only loss coming against Atalanta. Their last league game was an entertaining 3-2 win away at Empoli and kept them within touching distance of Roma, who are also playing very well.
• Juventus have also won 4 of their last 5 league games but they stayed unbeaten and as they only dropped points in a 1-1 draw away at Udinese. They just snuck past Sampdoria in their last fixture as they Juan Cuadrado’s early header was the only goal of the game.
• Napoli have been devastating going forward this season and it’s Dries Mertens who has led this incredible charge as he is their top goal scorer with 20 goals, a tally only beaten by 3 other players in Serie A. His partnership with Lorenzo Insigne, who has 12 goals, has been brilliant to watch.
• Big money signing, Gonzalo Higuain, has been Juventus’ top goal scorer with 19 goals and he’ll hope to reach 20 league goals against Napoli in his debut season for the Italian champions. Paulo Dybala has emerged as one of the best young talents in the world this season for Juventus.

HEAD TO HEAD

Jucentus have dominated this fixture in recent years as Napoli have only won twice in the last 7 league meetings between the two Italin giants. The meeting earlier in the season in the league ended with Juventus winning 2-1 and 3 of the last 4 league meetings have seen both teams score.

NAPOLI NEWS

As Napoli aim to consolidate their Champions League place, a win against Juventus would be vital and would send a real signal of intent to the teams around them how strong they are. They are helped by a fully available team for the clash, the only doubt is Lorenzo Tonelli who is still recovering from a bad wound he suffered at the end of January. They have a real chance of winning.

Latest matches: SSC Napoli

19.03.2017	Seri	FC Empoli	SSC Napoli	2:3	W
12.03.2017	Seri	SSC Napoli	FC Crotone	3:0	W
07.03.2017	UEFA	SSC Napoli	Real Madrid	1:3	L
04.03.2017	Seri	AS Roma	SSC Napoli	1:2	W
28.02.2017	Copp	Juventus Turin	SSC Napoli	3:1	L

JUVENTUS NEWS

Juventus will have to stay strong at the back to cope with Napoli’s explosive attacking players as well as being able to create chances of their own. Their chances of winning are slightly weakened as experienced defender, Mehdi Benatia, misses the fixture through injury.

Latest matches: Juventus Turin

19.03.2017	Seri	Sampdoria Genoa	Juventus Turin	0:1	W
14.03.2017	UEFA	Juventus Turin	FC Porto	1:0	W
10.03.2017	Seri	Juventus Turin	AC Milan	2:1	W
05.03.2017	Seri	Udinese Calcio	Juventus Turin	1:1	D
28.02.2017	Copp	Juventus Turin	SSC Napoli	3:1	W

SUMMING UP!

As Juventus have been so dominant of the Serie A in the last few years, it would be a surprise to see them get beaten by Napoli. But the hosts are no pushovers and have been fantastic recently especially in attack and their hopes of beating the champions have been massively boosted by this run of form. The visitors are certainly favourites but they will be made to pay if they take their foot off the gas as Napoli are brilliant at making their opponents pay for errors. Should be a cracker.