Both teams are unbeaten and have faced similar fixtures (each having hosted Juventus and Venezia) , Napoli have an 100% record and will move up from 4th to first place with all three points, Udinese are 7th and would move into 3rd and possibly as high as 2nd with the win.

 

They have posted fairly similar numbers so far, Udinese are 20-12 on target, 28-22 ITB attempts and are 9-6 for BC's, Napoli a respective 18-11, 29-15 and 7-5. The visitor's biggest edge is with ITB attempts and that is my own preferred statistic, for obvious reasons !

 

Udinese have had 8 days to prepare solely for this, Napoli played away to Leicester (2-2) in the Europa League on Thursday evening, but with this a Monday kick off and in early season, when players are still building up match fitness levels, we could argue all day about where the advantage lies.

 

We do see the return of an "old friend" in Luciano Spalletti (pictured), who is back in Serie A management with the visitors, he was a clubgowi favourite for many years and oft discussed as he "invented" 4-6-0 and made Roma one of the most talked about teams of the "noughties". He is firmly a 4-3-3 fan at present and has been making very good half time adjustments when needed, with Napoli winning the second half 2-1 at Leicester and 2-0 against Juve (where they came from behind) and his team not giving up a second half BC in those two games.

 

Napoli are meeting a favoured opponent today, having won nine of the last ten h2h meetings which includes both games last season, each of which was played this calendar year, 2-1 here in January where they posted another strong second half performance and 5-1 in Naples in May, where they recorded some sensational numbers 9-1 on target, 13-3 ITB and 6-0 BC's.

 

Napoli are circa1.90 to win this game, that feels a shade skinny to me, despite us almost never opposing Naoli on the road where they have largely served us well and they have a 59-17-20 away record since the start on the 2016-17 season, which is a magnificent 61.46% win rate and, with only 17.71% draws ,we know that as a club they are rarely prepared to settle for a point.

 

I prefer to hold off until half time and suggest we then bet 1.75 units Napoli at the first asian line quoted at odds of 2.20 + , as long as they are not already leading and the game is still 11 v 11. This is where I almost always write that no one ever backed a loser by waiting for better odds ! Others might argue that you could miss a winner, but it would be one at odds we have limited interest in and we are instead looking to bet at better quotes and through a period of the contest when we feel our team will up their game.

 

 

Good luck !