Coppa Italia: Napoli vs Lazio preview

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April 7th, 2015
Back Coppa Italia: Napoli vs Lazio preview

Napoli will be looking to hold on to a slim advantage in the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg against Lazio on Wednesday at the Stadio San Paolo. Napoli secured a 1-1 draw in the first leg, which means they would advance on away goals in case of a goalless draw. Lazio have been unable to defeat Napoli in the last eight direct encounters, but they did win their last Coppa Italia tie over two legs.

Napoli are still involved in the Europa League and they are also fighting for Champions League qualification in the Serie A. However, since the 1-1 first-leg win over Lazio they have only managed one win out of six games. That bad patch allowed Lazio to build an eight-point gap over Napoli in third place. Head coach Rafael Benitez is wanted by several big clubs, he has already won big titles like the Primera Liga, FA Cup, Champions League and UEFA Cup, so the Coppa Italia would definitely look good on his resume. Marek Hamsik should be back in the starting eleven after being rested in the 1-0 defeat at Roma last weekend.

Lazio have recorded seven consecutive league wins and that streak included victories over solid teams like Fiorentina and Torino. They even have a chance of finishing second ahead of bitter rivals Roma, they haven't finished higher than them since 2011. Stefan Radu, Abdoulay Konko and Santiago Gentiletti are still unavailable in defence for Lazio but Edson Braafheid returned from a knock last weekend.

Probable line-ups:

Napoli: Andujar - Britos, Koulibaly, Albiol, Maggio - Callejon, Lopez, Hamsik, De Guzman Mertens - Higuain

Lazio: Marchetti - Mauricio, De Vrij, Basta, Braafheid - Mauri, Felipe Anderson, Parolo, Biglia, Candreva - Klose

My prediction: Napoli to win 2-1.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

Napoli win - 2.20 Draw - 3.40 Lazio win - 3.40

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