Napoli – Sassuolo

Can we expect the teams to produce a high-scoring encounter?

Napoli set a club record after beating Rangers in the Champions League. "The Azzurri achieved their 12th successive victory and surpassed the record from the Diego Maradonna era. The Neapolitans thrashed the Scots 3-0, even though they had already made the play-offs. The final match against Liverpool, who are unlikely to move the Italians on from the first leg after a devastating defeat in the first round, also remains a formality. The team beat Roma minimally in the last round. Jose Mourinho seems to be the only one to disagree with that result. That's nothing new, though. However, the Partenopei still have some problems. While Rangers, with their overcrowded sickbay, and the fickle Roma have failed to score against Napoli, the team have conceded frequently before that. Their losing streak spanned six games, and even against Bologna and Cremonese they had to get the ball out of the net. But does it really matter when you can score more than you concede? It is worth noting that Luciano Spalletti's side have scored three or more goals in their last four home games. After two defeats, Sassuolo are coming off a win. It came against Verona where Ceccherini's early goals were matched by Lorente and Frattesi. Before that, the meetings against Atalanta and Inter ended with identical scores of 1-2. Against the leaders, the Neroverdi do not play their best: in addition to the above-mentioned games, they suffered a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Udinese and a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Juventus. Only the 0-0 draw with Milan breaks the trend. The last three face-offs between the teams show a possible trend in the following matches. The opponents have scored a combined total of 17 goals in those games, with a minimum of four in a single match. The last meeting in April ended in a 6-1 defeat for the Neapolitans. It is unlikely that such a defeat can be expected now, but the conditions are in place.