Italian Serie A
2012-01-16 - Napoli vs Bologna
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Italy : Seria A
Venue: Stadio Sao Paolo, Napoli
Monday 16th January – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Napoli (6th W-7 D-6 L-4)
Napoli snatched a late winner against Cesena to reach the quarter finals of the Italian Cup, Goran Pandev scoring a controversial goal in the 86th minute.
The Sicilians will go into this match trying to maintain the 3 point distance from 4th place Lazio, a team that won Sunday against Atalanta. If they want to play in the Champions League again, then Napoli should stop dropping points at home, but they do have the excuse of hosting top teams like Juventus, Lazio or Udinese in the first part of the championship.
Napoli is in a good form, coming after two consecutive victories (against Genoa and Palermo) in which they’ve scored nine goals. This would be the first time this season when they tie three victories in a row.
Mazzari will be without Ezequiel Lavezzi, the Argentine striker’s muscle strain could keep him out for five more games, having already missed three.
Probable Napoli line-up :
Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica
Maggio, Inler, Gargano, Dossena
Hamsik, Pandev
Cavani
Bologna(17th W-5 D-3 L-9)
Bologna is once again fighting to avoid relegation and probably the main reason because they are 17th at the moment is because they’ve only picked up one point from their first five Seria A games.
With the late goal in their previous victory over Catania, Marco Di Vaio is now Bologna’s top scorer with 5 goals to date. Comparing to the previous seasons I would say that he is having a modest season, he should be for Bologna what Di Natale is for Udinese, but I guess he’s starting to show he’s age.
Stefano Pili is expected to make two changes from the side that beat Catania last weekend, as Cherubin and Gaston Ramirez should replace injured duo Loria and Diamanti.
Panagiotis Kone remains sidelined, while Daniele Portanova must see out on more match of his suspension.
Probable Bologna line-up :
Raggi, Antonsson, Cherubin
Pulzetti, Perez, Mudingayi, Morleo
Ramirez
Acquafresca, Di Vaio
The Betting Verdict
Napoli lost only one of their last six games against Bologna and in everyone’s opinion they are the favorites to win this clash as well, especially having the home advantage on their side.
Marek Hamsik scored three goals over the two matches against Bologna last seson, while Edison Cavani already scored 10 goals this season, so there is plenty of firepower at Mazzari’s team.
Despite not winning any of their last three away games, Bologna have scored at least once in each of their last five fixtures on the road.
I would say that there’s a good chance to see an open match with plenty of chances with Napoli coming out as winners, but the price for a home win is not tempting at all, so I recommend taking a look at the goals market, where overs or both teams to score could be a good option.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Napoli 3-1 Bologna
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Napoli to win at 1.34 at PinnacleConfidence: 9/10
Try Both teams to score at 2.38 Ladbrokes
Confidence: 6/10
