Roma welcome Napoli to the Stadio Olimpico for a Serie A fixture on Saturday with both teams looking to snap out of difficult spells. Neither side has shown much consistency lately and seemingly evenly matched at the moment and could be set to cancel each other out.
Roma head into Saturday’s clash off the back of a 2-0 defeat at Bologna in their previous Serie A fixture. They were second best throughout the encounter with Jose Mourinho’s familiar low block unable to top the hosts fluid attack.
The performance and result may not have been up to scratch but that was Roma’s first defeat in six matches across all competitions. A closer look at that run shows an erratic form as they have picked up three wins and played out as many draws in those six matches.
Roma often pride themselves on being solid at the Stadio Olimpico and they are unbeaten in their last nine home matches across all competitions, claiming eight wins in that run. However, they were held 1-1 by Fiorentina in their previous Serie A fixture in front of their fans.
Napoli’s poor campaign took another disappointing turn in midweek as they were beaten 4-0 at home by Frosinone in the Coppa Italia. It 2as a much changed side for the Neapolitans, who struggled to cope with their visitors and finished with only two attempts on target.
Already 14th points off the pace in Serie A, Wednesday’s Coppa Italia exit means Napoli’s chances of silverware this season now look bleak. They did claim a 2-1 victory over Cagliari in their previous Serie A fixture and manager Walter Mazzarri will be keen to channel that performance on Saturday.
Despite their struggles this season, Napoli will still travel to the capital with some confidence having lost just once on their travels this season. That defeat came in their last away fixture as they were beaten 1-0 by Juventus, although Partenopei had claimed four straight wins on the road prior to their trip to Turin.
How the bookies view it
Napoli have the slight edge among the bookies and are priced at 33/20 by Unibet to claim the win. A victory for Roma is valued at 21/10 by bet365 while a draw is set at odds of 21/10 by BoyleSports.
Head to head
Roma have a 20-17 advantage with 13 draws from 50 previous matches against Napoli. However, the Neapolitans did the double last season, claiming a 1-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico before picking up a 2-1 win in Naples.
Players to watch
Having missed the defeat to Bologna through suspension, Romelu Lukaku is set to make his return on Saturday. The Belgian striker is the leading scorer for Roma this season with seven Serie A goals and is priced at 21/10 by BetVictor to get on the score sheet.
Victor Osimhen also has seven goals this season and could be worth keeping and could be worth keeping an eye on for Napoli. The Nigerian striker was also on target in both fixtures against Roma last season and is priced at 13/8 by BetVictor to maintain his scoring run.
Anything else catch the eye?
Both teams were on target in the last meeting and could be set for a similar outcome at 5/6 with Coral. That fixture also produced over 2.5 goals which is priced at 23/20 by bet365, who is also offering odds of 3/1 for over 3.5 goals.
Napoli have opened the scoring in the last three meetings with Roma and a similar pattern is priced at evens with BoyleSports.
This Serie A match between Roma and Napoli will be played on Dec 23, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Roma vs Napoli prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
