Napoli kicked off the 2022-23 Serie A season with a 5-2 win away to Hellas Verona. The Partenopei are now seeking a second straight win to start the campaign with hopes of challenging for the Scudetto.
Up next is freshly promoted Monza. Matchday No. 1 in Serie A wasn’t great for Monza as they fell 2-1 at home to Torino. Now, the new Serie A side are aiming to take points off of one of Serie A’s big hitters.
Napoli qualified for the Champions League last term. After the campaign, the team lost team captain Lorenzo Insigne to a free transfer to Toronto FC. The club also cashed-in on long-time centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly.
The club has tried to re-build the squad by signing striker Giovanni Simeone from Hellas Verona. Mathias Olivera arrived from Getafe and Min-Jae Kim was purchased from Fenerbahçe. Both players are expected to play big roles this term.
Kim started in the centre of defence on matchday No. 1 alongside Amir Rrahmani. New signing, left-wing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, also started the first game of the season, scoring a goal for Napoli.
There are a lot of new faces at Napoli and coach Luciano Spalletti will hope the fresh players bed-in quickly. Spalletti could still have new players come in this transfer window while another established name leaves.
Monza are overseen by coach Giovanni Stroppa. The 53-year-old led the side to promotion in his first season at the club. Stroppa is well-travelled having worked with Crotone, Foggia, and Spezia previously.
Stroppa does have Serie A-quality players in the team. In the offseason, the club signed veteran striker Andrea Petagna from Napoli. Monza also made a number of loan signings with the likes of Marlon joining from Shakhtar Donetsk, Matteo Pessina from Atalanta, and Gianluca Caprari from Hellas Verona.
Napoli and Monza have not played in over 20 years. There are no trends to go off of ahead of this fixture.
According to the latest reports from Italy, Stroppa has no new injury issues ahead of the match and will have a fully fit squad to select from.
Spalletti has just one new injury problem. Midfielder Adam Ounas is suffering from a stomach issue that will keep him out of the fixture this weekend.
Napoli should pick up a home win on matchday No. 2 against Monza. The Partenopei’s first match saw plenty of goals but this one may not. Napoli should win with under 2.5 goals going into the nets at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.