Napoli vs. Roma 7/5/20 Serie A Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Napoli is hosting Roma at Stadio San Paolo in a derby match of round 30 in Italian Serie A.

Napoli has been playing well since the restart, until their most recent loss to Atalanta. Of course, one loss doesn’t mean anything, but it shook some trees in Napoli for sure. Napoli has had 54% of ball possession in that game, 7 shots on goal, 5 corner kicks, and 89% of the correct passes. I was watching this game, and everything Napoli did was completely opposite than their two previous games. Napoli was sloppy in the build-up, slow with passing the ball, and frankly, just bad when it came to finishing their chances. Napoli has lost this game 2-0. The Champions League is out of Napoli’s reach, and even the Europa League could become questionable for Napoli. With 45 points, Napoli is in 6th place in the standings with 45 points, just 3 points above Milan. Napoli has scored 46 goals so far this season, and 10 of those were scored by Milik, while Mertens added 7 goals. Callejon and Insigne added 6 assists each. Allan is injured and will not be in the lineup, while their starting goalkeeper David Ospina is questionable after he suffered a dangerous cut on his forehead against Atalanta. Napoli is happy to have won the Coppa Italia trophy, but I’m sure they expected a lot more from Serie A. Well, maybe next season.

Roma has surprised me with 2 losses in their last two games, and they haven’t even scored a goal in said two games. Roma is in 5th place with 48 points, the place that leads straight into the group stage of the Europa League, but Roma must start winning some points again if they want to stay here. Roma has been more than good in the attacking end for most of the season and they scored 53 goals, while their defense could be better, but decent overall. Roma has conceded 40 goals in 29 games. Dzeko is Roma’s top goalscorer with 14 goals, while Mkhitaryan and Kolarov added 6 goals each. Pellegrini has 9 assists. Zanilo is injured, which is a huge blow for Roma, and Perotti is suspended because of the red card. In their last Serie A game against weak Udinese, Roma has had 52% of ball possession, 4 shots on goal, 10 corner kicks, and 86% of the correct passes. Despite having many good chances and 10 corner kicks, Roma wasn’t able to score a goal and they lost this game 0-2. I don’t know, I hope this bad spell will be short for Roma because they need to get back on the winning track if Roma wants to play in the Europa League next season, but maybe they will win it this season and they will be playing in the Champions League next season, who knows, it’s possible.

The trends are on Roma’s side in this matchup and Napoli hasn’t won any of their last 4 home games against Roma. This one could easily go either way, and both teams could use a win, the only question is who will react better after their losses a few days ago. Taking everything into consideration, I will pick something on goals here.