Overview
After a 5-match winning streak, a slip is enough to make Napoli almost end their slim hopes of defending the Serie A championship, as they are 9 points behind Inter Milan in the Scudetto race.
While Inter created a spectacular comeback to win 4-3 against Como, Antonio Conte's team disappointed when they only got a 1-1 draw away from Parma.
Being led by an early mistake, Napoli could only equalize thanks to a goal by Scott McTominay. Despite controlling the game in the last 30 minutes, they still could not find a decisive goal.
However, Napoli is still a bright candidate for the runner-up position when they won 16/18 maximum points after the last 6 rounds - the best achievement in the league, and have also surpassed AC Milan in the standings.
Before returning to Naples this weekend, the Campania team still maintains an unbeaten home record in Serie A since December 2024 - when Lazio won 1-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Since then, Napoli has won 19 matches and drawn 7 matches. Most recently, they defeated Juventus right in Rome, with goals in the first half from Leonardo Spinazzola and Amir Rrahmani.
Despite losing in the first leg in January, Lazio has a fairly good record when playing away against Napoli, with 3 consecutive wins - equal to their total number of wins in the previous 20 times.
However, the current form of the capital team is not very positive. The 0-1 defeat to Fiorentina caused them to drop to 9th place in the rankings, 13 points behind AS Roma - the team holding a European cup spot.
In the context that the Serie A season is not as expected, Lazio's biggest hope at this time lies in the Coppa Italia, where they will rematch Atalanta in the second leg of the semi-finals after a 2-2 draw.
Coach Maurizio Sarri therefore set a goal to win the title before he could leave the team in the summer, as a way to save the season.
Before the away match to Naples, Lazio revealed a clear weakness in attack when they did not score in 10/16 away matches this season. Even Sarri admitted that he has gradually lost patience with his team's limited scoring ability.
Personnel situation
After 7 matches of absence due to a hamstring injury, Amir Rrahmani may return and be on the bench. However, Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo is expected to only be able to reappear in the match against Cremonese next week.
Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku, David Neres and Antonio Vergara continue to be absent due to injuries.
Scott McTominay is likely to join Kevin De Bruyne to support key striker Rasmus Hojlund. The Scottish midfielder is in good form with 3 goals in the last 5 matches.
On the other side, although Di Lorenzo cannot return, Lazio has good news when captain Mattia Zaccagni has recovered early and is likely to be present at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
However, Lazio still suffered a personnel loss when Adam Marusic and Nicolo Rovella could not play. In the goalkeeper position, Ivan Provedel is still absent, while the backup option Alessio Furlanetto is also not ready.
Two center-backs Mario Gila and Samuel Gigot have returned to training, but Daniel Maldini's ability to play is still uncertain. In case Maldini is absent, Boulaye Dia is likely to be chosen to start in attack, instead of Tijjani Noslin and Petar Ratkov.
Expected lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic, Jesus, Buongiorno, Olivera, Politano, Anguissa, Lobotka, Spinazzola, De Bruyne, McTominay, Hojlund.
Motta, Lazzari, Romagnoli, Provstgaard, Tavares, Basic, Cataldi, Taylor, Isaksen, Dia, Zaccagni.
The match between Napoli and Lazio takes place at 11:00 PM on April 18 (Vietnam time).
