Lecce v Napoli
Football: Seria A
Venue: Stadio Via del Mare, Lecce
Sunday 15th April – Kickoff time: 15:00 GMT+1

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Lecce (18th W-8 D-10 L-14)

After some excellent performances Lecce’s hopes of avoiding relegation have been brought to life, they are only two points behind 17th placed Genoa, a team that will travel to San Siro on Saturday.

After a long time Lecce can climb to a safe position if everything goes in their favor this stage.

Since the 5th of February Lecce only lost once (to AC Milan) in 11 games, they are actually on a five game unbeaten run. They were close to lose on Wednesday to Catania, but instead their bid to escape relegation received another huge boost.

Lecce managed to struck twice in the last two minutes to claim a comeback against a 10-men Catania. I’d say that comebacks like this don’t happen too often and it was something weird about the goals as well, but let’s not get into it.

Julio Sergio is ruled out with an injury, while Manuele Blasi is suspended for this match, which means that Bertolacci is the favorite to take his place.


Probable Lecce line-up :
Benassi
Oddo, Miglionico, Tomovic
Cudrado, Delvecchio, Giacomazzi, Bertolacci, Brivio
Di Michele, Muriel

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Napoli (6th W-12 D-12 L-8)

It’s hard to explain Napoli’s poor form, yes, they’ve meet some strong opponents like Lazio or Juventus, but they were still not supposed to lose three games in a row, conceding 9 goals in the process.

It’s the first time this season when Napoli suffers back to back defeats which should worry coach Mazzari, according to whom it’s the fatigue that’s responsible for these results.

With Inter Milan back in form Napoli could lose their Europa League spot, the difference between the two is only made by the goal balance at the moment.

Walter Mazzari will welcome back defenders Britos and Cannavaro as well as midfielder Juan Zuniga who served a suspension on Wednesday.


Probable Napoli line-up :
De Sanctis
Grava, Cannavaro, Britos
Zuniga, Gargano, Inler, Dzemaili, Dossena
Hamsik
Lavezzi

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The Betting Verdict

It’s hard to read Lecce at the moment, they were held to a goalless draw here by Cesena then went on and demolished AS Roma in an impressive 4-2 victory.

I’d say that there are premises for at least three goals in this one, both teams use a 3-5-2 system which should provide lots of scoring opportunities and Napoli is a team that opens up a lot, I can’t see them playing defensively in this one.

The pressure should be on Napoli, a lots of money were invested in this team and finishing on a position outside the top 6 would be disappointing. Lecce worked so lately and I hope they’ll not be carried away with the recent results, they have not accomplished anything yet. However, if they continue playing like they did against Roma we could see them again in the next Seria A season.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Lecce 3-2 Napoli

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Over 3.5 goals at 3.00 at Ladbrokes
Confidence: 5/10 (Main bet)

Try Di Michele to score anytime at 2.60 at Bet Victor
Confidence: 5/10