Napoli vs Inter preview

January 24, 2012
By: Matthew Clarke

The two teams that were fighting for the Serie A title last term are now set to face each other in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, and we should see a great game of football at San Paolo.

Napoli have been unable to rediscover the form that had served them so well the previous season, and they already appear to be out of the race for Champions League places.

Their three-match winning run was followed by back to back draws with Bologna and Siena, so the hosts will have to work hard if they want to return to winning ways.

Napoli may have beaten Inter 3:0 at Meazza at the start to the season, but a lot has changed since, so odds of 2.40 (7/5) offered on home win by Paddy Power are definitely not worth taking.

Ezequiel Lavezzi will be given a chance to build his match fitness after recovering from injury, with Marek Hamsik and few other starters likely to be rested.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-2-1): De Sanctis – Fernandez, Cannavaro, Britos – Maggio, Dzemaili, Gargano, Zuniga – Lavezzi, Pandev – Cavani.

As we have already mentioned, Inter have come a long way since the 3:0 defeat to Napoli and they look absolutely unstoppable at the moment.

Claudio Ranieri did well to help the team recover from the disappointing start to the season, with Neroazzurri in brilliant form over the last few weeks.

Seven successive Serie A wins saw Inter return to the title race, which looked like mission impossible a couple of months ago, and the odds of 7.00 (6/1) offered by BetVictor on Inter to win the league title don’t look too shabby.

Claudio Ranieri is expected to rest his star players against Napoli, just like he did against Genoa, but Wesley Sneijder is set to start as he closes in on full fitness.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Castelazzi – Maicon, Cordoba, Ranocchia, Zanetti – Faraoni, Obi, Cambiasso, Poli – Sneijder – Zarate.

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