football
Serie A leaders Lazio visit a wounded Napoli on Sunday
Lazio top the table on 28 points and travel to a Napoli side 14 points back and beset by injuries. Napoli manager Massimiliano Allegri is under pressure after losses to Juventus and in the Champions League.
Serie A leaders Lazio visit Napoli on Sunday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with kickoff at 12:30 CET, Yahoo Sports reported.
Lazio top the table on 28 points. Roma cut the lead to one point with a win on Saturday. Napoli sit 14 points off the pace in 14th place.
Napoli manager Massimiliano Allegri is under pressure after a 2-0 loss to Juventus last week and a 4-1 defeat in the Champions League. Goal.com reported that Napoli have a long injury list: Di Lorenzo, Spinazzola, Lobotka, Badiashile, and Neres are all out. Lazio will be without captain Mattia Zaccagni and forward Albert Gudmundsson.
In the United States, the match is on Paramount+. In the United Kingdom, it is on DAZN.
What the coverage missed
Allegri is not just under pressure. He is one game from being fired. Napoli’s last two results were a 2-0 loss to Juventus and a 4-1 loss in Europe. The club’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has fired managers for less. The coverage framed this as a difficult fixture. It is more than that. It is a referendum on Allegri’s tenure.
The injury list is extraordinary. Five first-team players are out, including the captain and the starting central midfielder. Napoli are fielding a reserve team against the league leaders. The coverage listed the injuries but did not explain how thin the squad is beyond the first 11.
Lazio being without Zaccagni and Gudmundsson is a bigger deal than the coverage suggested. Zaccagni is the captain and the creative hub. Without him, Lazio’s attack loses its structure. Napoli may not be facing the full-strength league leaders. They may be facing a depleted side that is due for a regression.
What I think
This has the feel of a 0-0 or a 1-0 either way. Both teams are missing key players. Napoli are desperate, and desperate teams at home can be dangerous. But Allegri has not shown he can organize a defense with this many pieces missing.
Lazio will win the title if they get a result here. The gap is already seven points over third place. Roma are the only team close, and Roma have a harder run of fixtures. Lazio do not need to win this game. They need to not lose it. A draw suits them fine, and they are good enough at the back to get one.