Lecce vs Napoli

Serie A leaders Napoli head to Stadio Via del Mare to meet relegation-battling Lecce in a high-stakes Serie A encounter.

Lecce paid a fitting tribute to their late physiotherapist last weekend, holding top-four chasers Atalanta to a spirited 1-1 away draw to restore a two-point lead over the Serie A drop zone pre-round. However, Marco Giampaolo’s men will take on three top-half teams in the final four rounds, highlighting the size of the task ahead as they bid to avoid relegation. Ominously for ‘I Giallorossi,’ they’ve failed to beat any of the current top-13 sides in Serie A on home turf this season (D3, L8), drawing a blank on eight occasions! Topically, they have suffered three defeats across their last four meetings with Napoli (D1), failing to get on the scoresheet three times. That hardly bodes well for Lecce’s quest to post their first league win since late January. 

In contrast to Lecce’s torrid patch, visiting Napoli took advantage of Inter Milan’s home loss to Roma to steer three points clear at Serie A’s table summit with a 2-0 home win against Torino. Eager to clinch their second Scudetto in three years, Napoli have positioned themselves perfectly in this enthralling title race, with their four remaining league fixtures all coming against the division’s bottom-eight sides. That’s particularly significant when factoring in Napoli’s intimidating record against Serie A’s low-performing clubs this season (W10, D1, L1). Furthermore, they’ve kept a clean sheet in all seven top-flight encounters against bottom-four teams (W6, D1).