Our prediction for this Serie A match:
Napoli will be looking to extend their winning run to four games when they take on Crotone at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Matchday 29. The Neapolitans did well to beat Roma in the “Eternal City” before the international break, with Dries Mertens scoring a brace, and they must be high on confidence ahead of the visit of Crotone. Even though towering defender Koulibaly remains sidelined through suspension, we are tempted to put our money on the hosts. Aforementioned attacker Mertens should be fit to face the Rossoblu.
Crotone, on the other hand, experienced all sorts of problems at the back in back-to-back defeats to Lazio and Bologna. Since Napoli look unstoppable at the moment in the Italian top flight, anything but a routine home win would be a major surprise. Petriccione is banned for the match, while all Ounas, Cigarini, and Luperto are out of contention with injuries.
Highlighted Player (Dries 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 (Crotone):
Crotone are a professional football club that play their home games at Azio Scida. The capacity of the stadium 9,361 and it was opened 1946. In 2000 the stadium was renovated. Cagliari’s nickname is Pitagorici (Pythangoreans) and they were founded in 1910. The club’s original name was Milione Crotone, but after the World War II Unione Sportiva Crotone replaced the previous one.
Crotone were playing in lower leagues since its’ foundation, but they secured promotion to the Italian Serie A at the end of the 2015/2016 season. Croatia coach Ivan Juric helped the team secure promotion to the Italian top flight, but Davide Nicola replaced him as Crotone boss in July, 2016. The colour of Crotone’s home kit is blue and red and that is why many people call them Rossoblu (Red-Blue). The likes of Catanzaro, Cosenza and Reggina are regarded as Crotone’s biggest rivals and they take on each other in the Derby della Calabria. Crotone are a professional football club that play their home games at Azio Scida. The capacity of the stadium 9,361 and it was opened 1946. In 2000 the stadium was renovated. Cagliari’s nickname is Pitagorici (Pythangoreans) and they were founded in 1910.
The club’s original name was Milione Crotone, but after the World War II Unione Sportiva Crotone replaced the previous one. Crotone were playing in lower leagues since its’ foundation, but they secured promotion to the Italian Serie A at the end of the 2015/2016 season. Croatia coach Ivan Juric helped the team secure promotion to the Italian top flight, but Davide Nicola replaced him as Crotone boss in July, 2016. The colour of Crotone’s home kit is blue and red and that is why many people call them Rossoblu (Red-Blue). The likes of Catanzaro, Cosenza and Reggina are regarded as Crotone’s biggest rivals and they take on each other in the Derby della Calabria.