Juventus have all but secured a sixth successive Scudetto, but the race for the runners-up spot in the top tier of Italian football looks likely to go down to the wire.
Napoli are in a duel with Roma for second place – and there is a rich prize on offer for the winners, for the team who end the season behind the Old Lady will be guaranteed a place in the group stages of the Champions League, while the team that finishes third face a potentially perilous play-off tie to reach the last 64 of the competition.
Maurizio Sarri’s men have taken full points from five of their last six league matches and they are in fine form in the final third of the pitch, having notched eight goals in their last two outings, including a thumping 5-0 win against Torino in Turin last weekend.
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Napoli will be determined to maintain momentum as they push for automatic qualification for the Champions League group stages and Sarri’s side are chalked up as 1/4 (1.25) favourites with Betfair Sportsbook to take all three points from Saturday’s showdown.
Fiorentina are playing for nothing but pride, for they have come up short in their bid to qualify for European competition and Paulo Sousa’s side can be backed at 11/1 (12.0) to spring a surprise by winning in Naples, while the odds compilers offer 24/5 (5.80) that the match ends in stalemate.
Napoli are the top scoring team in Serie A so far this season with a hugely impressive 86 goals from their 36 league matches and they will certainly fancy their chances of adding to their tally in this fixture, for only Torino have conceded more frequently than Fiorentina in the top half of the Serie A standings this season.
Sousa’s side have shipped at least two goals in six successive matches, while Napoli have notched three times in four of their last five fixtures at Stadio San Paolo in all competitions - there is just 1/3 (1.34) that there are more than two goals scored in this match.
Better value, however, could lie in backing the free-scoring hosts to get amongst the goals again and, as such, it is the 29/20 (2.45) quote for Sarri’s team to win both halves that carries most appeal. The selection would have landed in three of the last five games that Napoli have won.
