Having led the pack for most of the season in the Italian Serie A, Napoli now sits fourth in the table and they are in danger of losing a third consecutive outing on Sunday against AC Milan.
Bookmaker 10Bet gives a slight edge to Milan here offering odds at 1.71 for a home win on the draw no bet market while the odds are at 2.20 for a Napoli win.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 18th, 2:00 P.M. (EST)
Napoli dropped just four points during the first 12 rounds of action but a run of four points in five games has followed. The team’s rock-solid defense has suddenly looked very fragile and they have even struggled to keep the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium as their fortress.
The Azzurri have lost back-to-back home games after previously having suffered only one home defeat in 2021. A 3-2 loss came against Atalanta in a tough fixture, but Luciano Spalletti’s men were also shocked by new boys Empoli last week. It won’t be easy to turn the form around with the injury bug starting to bite.
Napoli lost top scorer Victor Osimhen a while back and center-back Kalidou Koulibaly and key midfielder Fabian Ruiz have also picked up knocks. Spalletti has some very big gaps to fill and needs to find a way to maneuver through the situation.
Veteran Dries Mertens has at least hit form upfront. He’s scored five goals in five games ahead of the trip to San Siro and Napoli’s all-time top scorer will continue to carry a big load offensively until Osimhen is fit again. He’s scored in two of the last three meetings with Milan after netting just once in his previous 14 appearances in the matchup.
Milan have taken some blows as well lately, but they still trail Inter by just one point prior to this round of fixtures. The Rossoneri needed an injury-time equalizer from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to get a draw against Udinese a week ago and their recent results also included back-to-back defeats to Fiorentina and Sassuolo.
Zlatan turned 40 in October, but he continues to amaze with his ability to get goals out of nothing and dragging Milan to the Scudetto in 2022 would surely be among the greatest achievements in his career.
The Swedish star boasts seven goals in 10 league appearances this season. He was more of an impact sub early in the campaign, but the team looks far more dangerous with him on the pitch and manager Stefano Pioli simply can’t afford to keep Zlatan out of the lineup.
