Italian Serie A
2010-01-30 - Napoli vs Genoa
A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner
Football: Italy, Serie A 2009/2010
Saturday, 30th January 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm
Napoli (4th) Home : 6-4-0 15:7
Napoli are sitting proudly in 4th spot in Italy's Serie A standings, and the Vesuviani are starting to think about a possible Champions League spot next season.
Napoli’s great form is obvious - they are unbeaten in Serie A since Walter Mazzarri replaced Roberto Donadoni all the way back in Week 8, and have four wins in their last five games.
However, despite that dominance, it's not all plain sailing for Napoli, who do stumble to home draws quite frequently, and the home side has several players unavailable for Saturday's game.
Probable Napoli Line-up :
Ezequiel Lavezzi, Erwin Hoffer and Fabiano Santacroce are on the Napoli injury list while Michele Pazienza is suspended.
Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Grava
Maggio, Gargano, Cigarini, Aronica, Hamsik
Quagliarella, Denis
Genoa (8th) Away : 2-1-7 10:20
Genoa are also in the top half of the table, and like Napoli the main reason for this is their great form at home with an unbeaten 7-4-0 record.
But, when Genoa travel, the goals seem to dry up, and Genoa have lost five of their last six games on the road in Serie A.
Genoa still may have eyes on the race for Champions League spots and they will not be distracted by other competitions as the Rossoblu have already been knocked out of the the Europa League and Coppa Italia.
The arrival David Suazo on loan from Inter Milan, might make a differnce, but I wouldn't want to bet on yet just yet.
Probable Genoa Line-up :
Genoa’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Raffaele Palladino, Jankovic and Kharja are all injured.
Biava, Dainelli, Moretti
Rossi, Milanetto, Juric, Criscito
Mesto, Suazo, Sculli
Head to Head
This is the area that Genoa have a decided edge, they've played Napoli five times in Serie A over the past two and a half seasons and won all five matches.
Genoa have won both games here in previos seasons, 1-2 and 0-1, and also won the reverse fixture 4-1 back into September.
The Betting Verdict :
Home advantage is a big advantage for both of these two sides, it's with Napoli and I think that they can finally break that run of bad results against Genoa.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Napoli 1-0 Genoa
