Napoli v Lazio betting tips: Serie A leaders looking to extend gap in crucial top-four clash
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 2 March 2023
Napoli and Lazio kick off another exciting weekend in Serie A, and Tipstrr expert Sergiu Baltuta has been examining Friday's top four clash for clues as to where the best betting value might lie.
An 18-point advantage over the chasing pack with 14 remaining games puts Napoli are on the cusp of their first Serie A title for 33 years.
Lazio, on the other hand, currently sit fourth in the league table, two points behind Inter and Milan, and only one point in front of their arch rivals AS Roma.
The current leaders have won 10 of the last 12 Serie A encounters with Lazio (losing the other two), and in the most recent four encounters, all of them won, they breached the Lazio defence no less than 13 times. At home Napoli are undefeated against Lazio since May 2015 (six wins and one draw).
Napoli boast the best defence in Serie A, with only 15 goals conceded, and they won all the games played in February in all competitions without conceding a single goal.
At the same time their attack continues to run riot, and top scorer Victor Osimhen is having the best season of his career so far as top scorer in Serie A with 19 goals, six more than Lautaro Martínez, and the Nigerian striker has found the net in each of his last eight Serie outings.
Lazio are coming to Napoli after a hard-earned 1-0 win against Sampdoria, thanks to a sensational late goal from Luis Alberto. It was the second consecutive win for the Biancocelesti, who took advantage of Roma's surprising loss against Cremonese to climb above them in the table.
Lazio are undefeated in their last three away games in Serie A, albeit against opponents from the lower part of the table (Sassuolo, Verona and Salernitana). Indeed, the team from the capital have lost only two games away from home this season, 0-3 against Juventus and 1-2 at Lecce.
Lazio remain solid starters of games, and it's worth pointing out they have conceded just four goals before half-time in their 24 league games, the best defensive first-half record across all five major European leagues.
For the record, Napoli have conceded seven, so we could well be in for a cagey first half as the two teams probe each other rather than go on a full-on attack.
