Written by Ballardini. The author’s opinions and predictions are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Unibet. Odds and details may change between the time of writing and when placing a bet – always check before betting.

The Scudetto title is on the line. We are now two rounds into the Serie A year of 2023. Napoli, which before the break, looked like the certain pick for the scudetto this season. They have honestly been steamrolling almost every team they have faced so far this season. But are we now seeing signs of that they may start to crumble perhaps? I do not have the answer for that. But what I do know is that Juventus are accumulating clean sheets and wins like prime Juventus in the latest decade.

Juventus critics

With that said, critics have arrived Juventus’ way as they have not been playing any particular kind of aesthetically pleasing football. But to La Vecchia Signora’s defence, they have never really represented such kind of football. Juventus are all about winning. The manner of which they do so, is completely irrelevant.

The big game of the weekend

What is not irrelevant though, is that exactly Napoli and Juventus are facing off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona this 18^th round of Serie A. Friday night at 20:45 CET. Napoli with their free-flowing attacking football versus Juventus’ low block and counter attacking football. It is a clash of two definite opposites. But which team will come out of this as potential winners? And how will this game play out?

Status before match?

Before this game kicks off, Napoli in first place lead with 7 points down to Juventus in second place. I think that both teams would accept one point here. A loss for any of the teams could turn out to be detrimental for the title. Especially for the black and white striped team from Piemonte as that would see Napoli bridge the gap at the top to 10 points.

Logical bet

The logical game would thus be a low scoring affair in the southern Italy. Those of you favoring that could consider:

• Under 2.5 goals at 1.81

That should also mean that a draw at half time or maybe under 0.5 goals at half time could be tempting. These objects are at the moment priced as followed:

• Draw at half time at 2.16
• Under 0.5 goals at half time at 2.90 (if you want to lower your risk, as I prefer, I would recommend under 1 goals (asian) at half time, priced at 1.84)

Although, we all do know perfectly well that football is not always logical. One could perhaps argue that football being logical is only an exception.

Not logical bet

And with that in mind I could see a scenario where Napoli actually blow Juventus out of the water if certain circumstances appear. And that certain circumstances would be if Napoli are able to get a first goal. That would force Juventus and manager Max Allegri to take risks. And such risks have not Juventus taken since a long, long time ago. To be more precise: The last time Juventus conceded a goal in Serie A was in the beginning of October 2022.  So that would mean a new and open ocean to swim in for the Turin team. And that kind of ocean is the preferred ocean for such a skilled attacking team as Napoli on home turf. The ones following that train of thoughts should consider taking bets as:

• Napoli to win at 1.92
• Napoli -1.5 at 3.75

If I had to pick one bet

To conclude: This match has as every match several potential outcomes, and these are teams with a lot to fight for as, truly, the Scudetto title is on the line. But if I had to pick just one bet, I would have gone for:

• Under 1 goal (asian) at 1.84

That is all from me this time out.

All the best, Ballardini.