Napoli vs. Leece: Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

When they host last-place Lecce at Stadio Maradona this weekend, league leaders Napoli will look to further cement their advantage.

The teams meet on Saturday afternoon. The home squad aims for its fourth consecutive victory, while the visiting club is reeling after a six-goal thrashing last week.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

Despite playing below par, Napoli resumed their winning ways with a Serie A victory against Empoli. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's penalty kick after a foul on Matteo Politano gave Napoli a two-point advantage.

After a disappointing year in which they could not qualify for the Europa League, Antonio Conte has already turned around a Partenopei squad that scored 19 points in eight games, enough for fourth-best this century.

Napoli, which has a byzantine record of late and enjoys midweek holidays while its competitors are on European tours, is undoubtedly trying to reclaim the Scudetto from Inter Milan, Conte's previous club.

With an aggregate score of 10-1 in their favour, the Campanian club has preserved a clean sheet in four of their previous five league encounters. Since the start of September, only Juventus has been able to equal their defensive prowess.

Napoli aren't concerned with maintaining possession—they rank eleventh in Serie A with 47% of the ball this season—but they can be devastating when they score. No other elite club in Europe's top five leagues ranks lower than them in average possession.

Conte will be facing off against Napoli, the club where he made his professional debut in 1986 when he was only 16 and 249 days old.

Despite Lecce's goal-scoring drought in their past two games against this week's hosts, they have gone unblemished on three league trips to Naples.

Following Luca Gotti's employment, which was put in jeopardy last week following a 6-0 hammering by Fiorentina, they will hope, rather than expect, to escape unharmed on this occasion.

Gotti and the Salentini club president had a crisis meeting after his team humiliatingly lost at home at Via Del Mare. They were reduced to 10 men after Antonino Gallo's expulsion in the first half.

For now, he is still in goal, but with five points, Lecce is in nineteenth position, and they have scored the fewest goals (three) of any team in the top five leagues in Europe.

The Giallorossi are in danger of dropping to the bottom of the league when they play Hellas Verona next week; they have the second-worst goal differential with 18 goals surrendered, behind only Montpellier HSC.

Napoli x Leece Team News

Despite criticizing Billy Gilmour's performance in the first half last week, Antonio Conte should start him again in the middle for Napoli since Stanislav Lobotka is still out with a thigh strain he had while playing for Slovakia.

Alex Meret, the starting goalie, has been back in training but will have to wait to see whether he is well enough to replace Elia Caprile.

With 73 goals and 26 assists so far in Serie A, Romelu Lukaku would achieve 100 goal involvements with a goal or assist, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will provide help in the last third.

This season, Nikola Krstovic of Lecce has taken 15 shots from beyond the penalty area, putting the latter in second place with 12 attempts. Even though he has only scored twice in the league this season, Krstovic has the most attempts (35) of any player.

On the injury front, the Salentini will be without Gallo (suspended after receiving a red card last weekend) and Medon Berisha, Filip Marchwinski, and Kevin Bonifazi.

With Gallo out, Patrick Dorgu of Denmark may get a start instead of Lameck Banda or Tete Morente at fullback, his previous position.

Our Predictions

Napoli, 3-0 over Lecce @ 6.80 on Sky247.ng

Lecce has been unable to score or maintain a clean sheet this season, while Napoli have been riding high on a wave of success. This has created a massive confidence gap between the two sides.

The Serie A leaders are poised to continue their winning run, while the visitors could finish the week in last place.

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