Runaway leader Napoli will look to extend its eight-match winning run in Serie A when it hosts Lazio on Friday but faces a stern test against the second-best defence in the league.
Lazio climbed back into the fourth and the final Champions League spot after beating visiting Sampdoria 1-0 on Monday but it will not find it easy against a Napoli side which has kept four consecutive clean sheets while scoring 10 goals.
Napoli has one hand on the title with an 18-point lead over second-placed Inter Milan and manager Luciano Spalletti has nothing but praise for his team as it looks to end a 33-year wait for the Serie A title with 14 games left.
“Everyone we face seems to be playing for their lives and if we’re where we are at this stage of the season it means I have a group of lads who know how to handle every game the right way,” he said.
“(They are) displaying the mindset and the spirit you need as a squad if you want to come out on top in every game.”
Juventus is on the rise again after a 15-point deduction related to the club’s transfer dealings saw it plunge from third to 10th place. Four wins in a row have lifted it to seventh in the table ahead of its visit to Roma on Sunday.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side is six points behind sixth-placed Atalanta, which occupies the last European slot, and has been boosted by the return from injury of Paul Pogba.
The France midifelder came off the bench to make his first appearance in his second stint since his return to Juve in Tuesday’s 4-2 home win over Torino.
Roma will be without manager Jose Mourinho after the Portuguese coach was banned for two games and fined 10,000 euros ($10,628) for his explosive reaction to being sent off in his side’s 2-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Cremonese.
Reigning champion AC Milan bounced back from four straight losses in all competitions to win four on the trot without conceding and Stefano Pioli’s side can move up to second place with another win if Inter drops points at home to Lecce.
Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in the Milan squad after a lengthy injury layoff and the striker might even make his first start of the season on Saturday at Fiorentina. If he finds the net, the 41-year-old will set the record as the oldest scorer in the history of the competition, overtaking former Milan player Alessandro Costacurta.
Udinese visits Atalanta on Saturday and will attempt to break the home side’s 10-match unbeaten run against them in Serie A.
Inter has won each of its last eight home games against Lecce in Serie A, but manager Simone Inzaghi has warned about the impact of its unforgiving schedule.
“We can’t seem to maintain the same level of concentration and determination playing every two and a half days,” he said after Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Bologna.
Comments
SHARE