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Serie A: Verona v Napoli - match preview, predicted starting line-ups & Opta stats

Serie A: Verona v Napoli - match preview, predicted starting line-ups & Opta stats

Napoli begin their quest for Lo Scudetto this evening with a trip to the Stadio Bentegodi to take on newly promoted Hellas Verona. The clubs last met at this venue back in November 2015 as Napoli ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higuain in what was Maurizio Sarri’s debut season.
 
Tonight also marks Sarri’s 100th match in charge of Napoli and form certainly favours his side going into the season opener. Verona have enjoyed just a single victory over Napoli in their last six Serie A meetings, a 2-0 win back in March 2015, and have found goals against Napoli hard to come by with only five scored in 540 minutes of Serie A football; one every 108 minutes.
 
Napoli on the other hand have had no problem finding the back of the net against Verona, scoring 19 times or one every 28 minutes. There’s also the small matter of the 2nd leg of a Champions League qualifier against Nice to be negotiated on Tuesday evening, and the players must ensure their minds don’t wander from the job in hand.
 
Team News
 
Maurizio Sarri has a full squad at his disposal and no injury concerns to deal with. Adam Ounas sat out the match against Nice and didn't even make the bench, but he should find his way into the match day squad for the trip to Verona. I expect Napoli to start with Sarri’s first choice XI, most likely looking to get the job done early doors and introduce some fresh legs and give others much needed game time.
 
Against Nice, Napoli lined up with what fans refer to as, ‘the Classic Eleven’ and given the importance of match sharpness at this stage of the season I could very easily see Sarri opting for the same eleven once again with Zielinski, Ounas, and Milik seeing game time as substitutes.
 
Probable Starting Line Up:

(4-3-3) Reina; Ghoulam, Koulibaly, Albiol, Hysaj; Jorginho, Hamsik, Allan; Insigne, Mertens, Callejon
 
One To Watch
 
Dries Mertens. The Belgian has started the season where he left off with another fantastic goal against Nice to open the scoring at the San Paolo in midweek and looked incredibly sharp.



James McGhie (@jrmcghie)