Juventus’ record as the last remaining unbeaten team in Serie A will be firmly put to the test this weekend when they travel to the Stadio San Paolo to take on Napoli. After a promising start to the season, Walter Mazzarri’s side have somewhat stalled of late, winning just one of their last four league games, with a home defeat to Parma particularly unexpected.
Nine games into the new campaign and Napoli have already lost three times but it seems the big occasion brings the best out of them- victories against Milan and Udinese, two of the current top four, and a win away to Inter highlights their ability to rise to the occasion. What greater way to continue this form than taking the scalp of the league leaders?
Napoli Home v Juventus Away Form
Napoli’s home performances have been relatively patchy thus far. Over four games, they’ve averaged 12 shots and scored just 6 goals, picking up 7 points, with their only two victories coming against Milan and Udinese. Over those two games, they scored 5 goals and conceded just 1; a victory over Juventus would bring them level on points with Antonio Conte’s side and provide the perfect cure for the Euro hangover caused by Wednesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich.
Napoli’s determination to battle is shown by their 27 successful tackles per game at home - more than any side in Serie A. They tend not to dominate games in front of their home fans, though, with just 51% possession and a look at their “Attack Sides” stats suggests the right flank could be key this weekend- 39% of their forward thrusts come down this side, compared to 30% on the left.
Away from home, Juventus have the tightest defence in the division. After four games on the road, Conte’s side have conceded just 2 goals, with clean sheets recorded at Chievo and Siena. Going forward, they’ve found the net just 4 times on their travels, though, but a series of resolute performances have harvested 8 points away from their brand new ground, the Juventus Stadium.
Juventus’ away resilience is shown by their defensive stats - 24 successful tackles is second only to Chievo and is supplemented by 21 interceptions, with just 11 shots conceded - the lowest of any team in Serie A. Despite their poor return of 4 goals, they have averaged 14 away shots per game, second only to Catania’s 16.
Key Players
With both sides looking evenly balanced, it may need a little bit of magic to make the difference on Sunday evening. WhoScored takes a look at those who’ll be endeavouring to provide that extra spark and those looking to nullify the danger:
Napoli
Playing on the left of the back three, Hugo Capagnaro has picked up 2 WhoScored man of the match awards in his four home games. The Argentine has been Napoli’s main defensive performer, producing 4.8 tackles, 3.5 interceptions and 7.5 clearances per game at the Stadio San Paolo. If Juventus are to breach the home side’s back line, they’ll have to get past Campagnaro first.
Ezequiel Lavezzi has been Napoli’s chief creator at home. Averaging 2 shots per game over his four appearances, he’s found the net just once but, sitting just behind a lone forward, he’s produced plenty of goalscoring chances for his team mates. An average of 3 key passes combined with 2.8 successful dribbles highlights the threat he’ll take to the Old Lady.
After a hat-trick in his opening home league game of the campaign, Edinson Cavani has suffered something of a loss of form. Failing to find the net in the subsequent three home games, Cavani has, nevertheless, been a constant threat to the opposition. Averaging 3.5 shots and 1.5 key passes, he’s also grabbed an assist and a man of the match award and is the top-rated Napoli player over their Stadio San Paolo appearances, with a rating of 7.43.
Juventus
If Cavani is to prosper this weekend, he’ll need to get the better of Andrea Barzagli. The centre-half has featured in every Juventus away game and has produced the best combined defensive stats, with 3.5 tackles and 3.8 interceptions indicative of his vital presence at the heart of the back-four. Factor in his 8.5 clearances and 50% aerial success rate and it’s clear just why Juve have been so hard to break down at the back so far.
Andrea Pirlo has made a mockery of Milan’s decision to offload him this summer with a series of typically eye-catching displays at the heart of the Juventus midfield. With Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio providing the graft and goals alongside him, Pirlo has produced 1.5 key passes per game on his travels, in addition to an average of 2 shots and 1.3 successful dribbles. The top-rated Juve player for away games, Pirlo has a WhoScored average of 7.17, just ahead of Barzagli’s 7.14. Napoli will need to close him down and prevent Pirlo wreaking havoc if they are to come out on top.
With 3 goals and an assist in his last three games, Alessandro Matri is clearly a man on form. Fielded as a lone frontman at Inter last week in a 4-1-4-1 with Mirko Vucinic moving wide left, he’ll be expected to grab the goals to send Napoli crashing for the fourth time this season. Matri is top scorer for Juve with 4 goals but has scored just 1 and made an assist on the road in his three appearances, averaging 1.3 shots and 1 key pass. If Juventus are to improve their lowly scoring record of 4 goals from four games on the road, Matri will need to up his game this weekend.
