It’s the first day of December and that brings one of the biggest games of the Serie A season as Napoli play host to title rivals, Juventus. Two of Europe’s strongest teams face off at Stadio San Paolo and it is Napoli who are currently top of the Italian top-flight after dropping just four points so far this term while their opponents are 3^rd with four fewer points than the hosts.

STATS

• Napoli have been scintillating form in the league this season and with 12 wins and two draws from their opening 14 matches, they are value for their current league position. They were victorious in their last match as the squeezed past Udinese by a 1-0 scoreline after beating AC Milan 2-1 at home. However, a disappointing goalless draw with Chievo in the fixture before gave the chasing sides chance to catch them slightly.
• Juventus haven’t been as strong as they have been in recent seasons in Serie A. They have already twice in the league but are still within touching distance of the league leaders. These two losses came against Sampdoria and Lazio, both of which came after poor performances. They comfortably beat Crotone 3-0 in their last game but will need more than that if they are to beat Napoli.
• Dries Mertens has been one of the main reasons behind Napoli’s great start to the campaign and with 10 goals, he is their leading scorer in the league.
• One player that has managed more goals than Mertens is Paulo Dybala who has 12 for himself in the league, only Ciro Immobile and Mauro Icardi have more than the Juventus forward.

HEAD TO HEAD

Juventus have had the slight edge over Napoli in the two sides’ recent meetings, however it was Napoli who won the last fixture as they came out 3-2 winners in the Coppa Italia semi-final after they were beaten 3-1 by Juve in the first-leg. It was back in 2015 that Napoli last beat Juventus in the league but the honours were shared in the last league meeting between them as Sami Khedira’s opener was cancelled out by Marek Hamsik. Both teams have scored in nine of the last ten fixtures across all competitions.

NAPOLI NEWS

Three points for Napoli would see them take up a very commanding position in the league, especially if second-place Inter were to slip up and drop points. They have two absentees for the match as Faouzi Ghoulam and Arkadiusz Milik both return to action in the new year.

Latest matches: SSC Napoli

26.11.2017	Seri	Udinese Calcio	SSC Napoli	0:1	W
21.11.2017	UEFA	SSC Napoli	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	3:0	W
18.11.2017	Seri	SSC Napoli	AC Milan	2:1	W
05.11.2017	Seri	AC Chievo Verona	SSC Napoli	0:0	D
01.11.2017	UEFA	SSC Napoli	Manchester City	2:4	L

JUVENTUS NEWS

Juventus would show a real statement of intent if they were to beat Napoli in this one and it would close the gap between the sides to just one point. However, they have three injury doubts: Benedikt Howedes, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Mario Mandzukic are all being assessed as to whether they will feature on Friday night.

Latest matches: Juventus Turin

26.11.2017	Seri	Juventus Turin	FC Crotone	3:0	W
22.11.2017	UEFA	Juventus Turin	FC Barcelona	0:0	D
19.11.2017	Seri	Sampdoria Genoa	Juventus Turin	3:2	L
05.11.2017	Seri	Juventus Turin	Benevento Calcio	2:1	W
31.10.2017	UEFA	Sporting CP	Juventus Turin	1:1	D

SUMMARY

The matches between Napoli and Juventus are always entertaining and this is set to be no different. Neither side will want to give too much away in the early exchanges but with home support behind them, Napoli are favourites to take the win in this clash. However, Juventus shouldn’t be ruled out and they could easily take the game to the hosts and come away with the victory.