Our match prediction:
Napoli
Match Time & Date:
31/01/2016
14:00 GMT
Prediction: 3-1
Empoli
Napoli will host the 22nd round in the Italian Serie A against Empoli on Sunday afternoon at 14:00 in the San Paolo Stadium in Naples. Napoli won their last Serie A game against Sampdoria 2-4 and is currently the number one in the highest Italian football division having 47 points out of the first 21 games. Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain is showing his class every week, managed to score a goal in Napoli's last game and is currently the topscorer in the Serie A with 21 goals. Empoli on the other hand managed to keep AC Milan 2-2 at home in their last Serie A game and is placed 8th on the table which is above everyone's expectations. In the first game between Napoli and Empoli this season Empoli managed to keep Napoli on a 2-2 draw. In this edition we predict Napoli to beat Empoli 3-1 and continue their title race. Higuain is still 9 goals ahead of Dybala and Eder and should be able to win the topscorer title if he stays in his current form.
Highligted Player (Mertens):
Dries Mertens is a Belgian football player born on the 6th of May 1987 in Leuven. Mertens started his football career in the youth of RSC Anderlecht and AA Gent. In season 2005/2006 he made his debut for the first team of AA Gent. After playing for AGOVV, FC Utrecht and PSV Mertens got transferred to Napoli for approximately 9.5 million euro. Mertens made his debut for the Belgian national team in October 2010 and played over 40 games for the national team already. Mertens played during World Cup 2014 and EURO 2016 for Belgium.Mertens is a right attacking midfielder, which can play as a forward as well. Mertens is known for being a very small fast player, which has the ability to get past several defenders and deliver a cross to his team mates. In his career Mertens didn’t win any big prizes yet. The biggest achievements of Mertens are winning the Dutch national cup with PSV in 2011/2012, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa in 2014 with Napoli.
Highlighted Team (Napoli):
Napoli SSC is an Italian football club from the city of Naples which is playing currently in the Serie A. The club was founded officialy in1926 but the history from Napoli reaches back to 1904 with the club Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club that fused with Internazionale Napoli and was calledFBC Internaples. After 4 seasons the club changed it’s name to SSC Napoli (Societa Sportiva Calcio).In the end of the eighties Napoli had the biggest success in the club history with the Argentinian legend Diego Maradona. Diego Maradona was able to win the league title twice, the national cup and the UEFA cup. The moment Maradona left the club Napoli got into big financial trouble.In 2004 the local club was bank rupt. Despite the help of financial investors the club got regulated to the Serie C. After 6 years of playing in lower divisions Napoli managed to get back in the Serie A in season 2007/2008.Famous players that played for the club from Naples are: Maradona, Zola, Cavani, Blanc, Di Canio, Cannavaro.
