There has always been serious rivalry between Juventus and Napoli – after all, they stand on either side of the great North-South divide.
Today, Wednesday, April 7, the two sides meet in Turin to battle it out for one last time this season. Their meetings so far this season have been controversial and dramatic. Their first league of the season was postponed – after which Juventus scored a triumph in the Supercoppa clash against the Partenopei. After that, Gennaro Gattuso’s side grabbed a one-home win in February. And now they are locked on points – with both sides fighting it out for a place in the Champions League.
These two heavyweights of Italian football have suffered mixed fortunes this season – and each will look at this clash as a potential season-saver.
The Turin giants are currently struggling – and come from a two-all draw against Torino last weekend. And before that, Andrea Pirlo’s side suffered a defeat to modest Benevento. Not to mention their painful exit from the Champions League at the hand of Porto.
If there is one word that would describe the performance of Juventus this season, it would be ‘inconsistent’. And it is this inconsistency which has pushed them down to fourth place, level with Napoli. And that is a position that Juventus are not used to – as they look like this season, Inter are set to break their nine-year consecutive Scudetto win.
And that has set the rumour mill going – with many predicting that Pirlo will exit at the end of the season and former boss Max Allegri resuming his coaching career at Juventus.
Napoli, on the other hand, come to this game from a victory at relegation-haunted Crotone. This victory helped Gattuso’s side climb up to a top-four position – for the first time since January. Napoli are going through an impressive form – and have accumulated 16 points from a possible 18 in their last games, including victories over Milan and Roma.
For Napoli, their game with Juventus is the start of a terrible series – as after this match they will take on leaders Inter and top-four contenders Lazio. But they currently look strong enough for this challenge – in fact, Meridianbet has them as favourites, at 3.50, with a Juventus victory at 2.10. A draw is at 3.60. Double chance is at 1.29 for a Juventus victory or a draw, and at 1.76 for a Partenopei victory.
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Disclaimer: Meridianbet is licensed by the MGA. Licence number MGA/B2C/134/2007. Play responsibly. For help visit www.rgf.org.mt. Players must be over 18.