Overview
Nothing is more disappointing than Napoli's performance in the 0-2 defeat to Lazio last weekend - a team led by former coach Maurizio Sarri.
This is Napoli's worst match at Diego Armando Maradona's stadium this season. Despite maintaining an impressive unbeaten streak in Serie A, Antonio Conte's team did not have a single shot on target against the capital's representative.
Reaction from the stands is understandable when fans booed fiercely. After this defeat, Napoli was 12 points behind Inter Milan when the season only had 5 rounds left, making the championship race almost decided.
In fact, the question now is not whether Inter will win the championship or not, but when they will officially be crowned. In the opposite direction, Napoli is worried about keeping their position in the top group. After a 5-game winning streak, winning only 1 point in recent matches has caused them to fall behind and have to compete fiercely for second place.
AC Milan has caught up with 66 points, while Juventus is only 3 points behind, creating no small pressure for the southern Italian team. Defender Leonardo Spinazzola frankly admitted that Napoli lacked fighting spirit in the defeat to Lazio - a sign that the problem is not only in tactics but also in psychology.
In the next round, Napoli will host Cremonese at home - an opportunity for them to regain stability. However, the away team is also in a situation where they must get points to stay in the league.
Under the leadership of Marco Giampaolo, Cremonese understands the historical disadvantage of never defeating Napoli in Serie A in the past 32 years, since the 1994 victory. Notably, they have also never won at Napoli's stadium in Campania.
Currently, Cremonese has 28 points, equal to Lecce in 18th place. In the context that Hellas Verona is also fiercely competing, any slip-up could push them into the relegation zone.
Away form is a major weakness of Cremonese when they lost 4/5 recent matches at the opponent's home ground - a total of 10 defeats, only less than Lecce.
Against a weak opponent like Napoli, the opportunity to create a surprise is not non-existent. But if they do not improve their fighting spirit, Giampaolo's team will hardly avoid a trip with little danger.
Personnel situation
Although no new injuries arose in the defeat to Lazio, Napoli still lacked many important pillars. Cases such as Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Romelu Lukaku, David Neres and Antonio Vergara could not participate.
In attack, the duo Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay have scored a total of 18 goals this season. However, their away performance is still limited, while McTominay himself shows more impressive scoring ability when playing at home.
In midfield, Frank Anguissa and Kevin De Bruyne were both substituted in the second half of the previous match, but are likely to still start in the reception of Cremonese.
On the other side, Cremonese just had a morale boost after their first away win since December, with goals from Youssef Maleh and Jari Vandeputte. This gives them more confidence before a difficult away trip.
The biggest hope in their attack is still Federico Bonazzoli - the team's number one striker this season. However, this striker has not scored from a live ball since the beginning of March, showing signs of decline in form.
Cremonese also suffered a personnel loss when many names such as Jamie Vardy, Martin Thorsby, Faris Moumbagna and Michele Collocolo could not play.
The match between Napoli and Cremonese takes place at 1:45 am on April 25 (Vietnam time).
