Verona Vs Napoli
Verona Vs Napoli Monday, 15 August 2022 – 17:30 (BST)
Italian Serie A
Pick: Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams Score
Odds: 21/20
Bookmaker: 10Bet
(All betting odds correct at time of writing: 12 August 2022)
Preview: The 2022-23 Serie A campaign gets up and running for Verona and Napoli at the former’s Stadio Mercantonio Bentegodi, in a fixture which has seen the side from Naples prevail in all but one of their five most recent meetings at this venue.
Italian Serie A Betting at Betfair
Table of Contents
Verona – Gialloblu targeting fourth-straight top-half finish?
A new man at the Hellas Verona helm inherits the task of taking this club back into Europe, after Igor Tudor departed over the summer having guided the Gialloblu to their third successive top-half finish in Serie A. Last season’s finish of ninth represented another solid campaign from the Bentegodi outfit, who will, however, aim to begin the new term in contrasting fashion to how they ended the last.
Verona wouldn’t win any of their final three games to close out 2021-22, a 3-3 draw away at Lazio at least ensuring they avoided the ignominy of bowing out with three defeats. Consistency wasn’t their strong point either, winning successive league games once all of last season. Meanwhile their home form also nosedived, as they won just one of the last five said matches (D1 L3). A run that begun with defeat to Napoli.
Key Stat: Hellas Verona had a rather mixed record as hosts versus last season’s top eight sides (W3 D1 L4), though did enjoy wins against Juventus, Lazio and Roma. All of those eight encounters, meanwhile, featured both teams scoring.
Napoli – Another Serie A title tilt unlikely?
The Partenopei begun the previous Serie A season inspired, reeling off eight consecutive victories as they quickly rose to the summit. They would finish down in third, though, a run of four successive wins to see it out ultimately not enough to challenge for the Scudetto as Luciano Spalletti’s men fell seven points short. A summer of upheaval makes it difficult to get a true gauge at what we can expect this time round.
Some huge names have departed Naples during the summer, with Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens chief among them. Their replacements feel underwhelming. Spalletti himself hit a pessimistic note when summing up his team’s ambitions for the season ahead. Another rapier start could change all that, though, while Napoli did accrue the second-most away points last term (43 – W13 D4 L2).
Key Stat: Napoli would conclude the 2021-22 Serie A season winning back-to-back away matches ‘to nil’, keeping as many clean sheets in these games as they had done across their eight previous away league games.
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Verona Vs Napoli Betting Advice
Losing so many key players without finding adequate replacements makes Napoli a less attractive proposition initially. Last season they were among the most reliable teams away from home, only failing to win six of 19 said fixtures. The Bentegodi wasn’t one of those six venues in which they came unstuck, though, winning 2-1 there in March. Neither has it been in recent years, having won four of five previous visits going back to 2015.
Verona Vs Napoli – Key Facts:
- Six places and 26 points would come to separate these two teams at the end of the 2021-22 Serie A campaign. Verona finished in a respectable ninth place (W14 D11 L13) but were some way back from Napoli, who came home third (W23 D7 L7).
- Only two players scored more in Serie A last term than Verona forward Giovanni Simeone. The 27-year-old, son of Atletic Madrid manager Diego, is rumoured to be on the cusp of completing a switch to Naples but is still on Verona’s books.
- Napoli have won four of their last five away meetings against Verona. Meanwhile, all but one of the past four encounters in Verona between the sides produced both Over 2.5 Goals and Both Teams To Score.
Despite everything above though, I think this could be a tricky opening assignment for the Neopolitans. I’m anticipating goals, too. Of Verona’s 19 Serie A home games last term, there were 14 instances whereby both teams scored – including every game against last season’s top eight – and 14 with Over 2.5 Goals. Napoli were more balanced in both regards, but did see Over 2.5/BTTS in four of their final six away games.
Best Betting Odds – Verona Vs Napoli
Verona – 23/10 (PaddyPower)
Draw – 13/5 (WilliamHill)
Napoli – 23/20 (Betway)
