What a tremendous two months it has been for Napoli. They secured their place in the Champions League Round of 16 with a good win at Benfica and their recent form in Serie A has been superb. On Thursday night, Napoli head to Florence to take on Fiorentina in an attempt to continue their push up the Serie A table.
You must go back to the 29th October to find the last time Napoli lost a competitive football match. The defeat came at the hands of Juventus and with the Old Lady seemingly on their way to another Serie A title, perhaps that defeat can be excused. Since the 2-1 reverse at the Juventus Stadium, Napoli have embarked on a nine-match unbeaten run, which has seen them draw two and win five of their seven Serie A matches.
The loss of striker, Arkadiusz Milik, looked as though it was going to hit Maurizio Sarri’s team badly but a somewhat surprising name has come forward to deliver the goals in Milik’s absence and that player is Dries Mertens. The Belgian international has been operating as a false nine for Sarri and has netted 14 times in all competitions this season, with 8 goals coming from a central starting position in the team. Napoli have scored 13 goals in their last three Serie games, with Mertens netting 7 goals in total in the matches against Cagliari and Torino. That makes it 8 goals in his last three games in all competitions and you must fancy Mertens to find the back of the net against Fiorentina, considering the huge confidence he is currently playing with.
Looking at Napoli’s last four away games in Serie A, there have been over 2.5 goals scored in each of them and there have also been over 2.5 goals scored in five of Fiorentina’s last six matches in Serie A, which means we could be in for a high scoring match.
Despite losing their previous two Serie A matches, making it three defeats from their last five league games, Fiorentina are unbeaten at home in Serie A this season. Defensively at home, Fiorentina have been strong, conceding just 4 goals in their last nine league matches at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. However, it is now four matches without a clean sheet in Florence, with Fiorentina conceding 1 goal in each of their last four home Serie A games. Paulo Sousa will be hoping Spanish midfielder, Borja Valero will return to the team soon, as he is the man who can control the tempo of Fiorentina’s play but it is unlikely he will feature in this one.
This is an exciting match, with Fiorentina looking to return to winning ways and Napoli hoping to continue where they left off in terms of their attacking play. The game looks set to feature plenty of chances in-front of goal and we could be looking at over 2.5 goals, with an away win.