Juventus’ nightmare defence of their Serie A title continued last weekend as the Old Lady were forced to scrap for a late equaliser at home to surprise table-toppers Chievo. Max Allegri’s men did enjoy a slice of light relief in midweek, mind. A 2-1 Champions League win at Manchester City has lifted spirits around the Turin club and many are now expected the side to put their positive mind-set into practice as the Italian top tier enters matchday four.
Two teams who hold top-three aspirations and would have hoped to make more of an impact during Juve’s slow start meet in the top clash of the weekend on Sunday evening. Napoli take on Lazio at the San Paolo and it’s hard to look anywhere else but the goals markets.
The hosts are a potent attacking side with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Marek Hamsik and Dries Mertens all pulling the strings and scoring freely for Mauricio Sarri’s charges. However, the new Napoli head coach has showed no sign of being able to tighten up a vulnerable backline.
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It’s a perfect cocktail for goals and the Romans make the journey south having looked threatening in their rain-drenched win over Udinese last week. Like Napoli, the guests have struggled to keep the back door locked and early goal could easily lead to a high-scoring encounter.
Both sides were involved in the Europa League on Thursday night and this meeting ended 2-4 on the final round of games last season, helping to secure third-place for Lazio. 188BET have chalked up Over 2.5/3 Goals at 1.97 and that holds plenty of appeal – we’ll have a half win should three goals be plundered with a full pay-out if four or more are netted.
Elsewhere, two newly-promoted clubs go head-to-head on Sunday afternoon with Bologna fancied to beat the -0.50 Asian Handicap against Frosinone at a more than respectable 1.96. The duo may be pointless from their opening three fixtures but the Rossoblu have looked useful in dates with Sampdoria, Sassuolo and Lazio.
The same can’t be said of Frosinone who’ve been outclassed in defeats to Torino, Atalanta and Roma. The visitors have a tiny budget and are simply unable to compete with the signings Bologna have made since promotion – Mattie Destro, Emanuele Giaccherini and Saphir Taïder should all feature for Delio Rossi’s charges and a hope win should be expected.
