Napoli Vs. Fiorentina Prediction: Partenopei Wants To End Three-Point Drought

JAKARTA - Napoli will host Fiorentina at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Sunday 9 March in the Serie A. Partenopei continued with the ambition to end their negative trend and reduce the distance at the top of the standings.

Napoli showed great fighting spirit against Inter Milan 1-1 last week. Left behind by Federico Dimarco's brilliant free-kick, Napoli finally equalized in stoppage time through Philip Billing's goal after Stanislav Lobotka's impressive move.

Although the result brought fresh air, Napoli have now set a record winless streak in Serie A's last five matches, something Antonio Conte's team had never experienced before. Their last win came in January when they beat Juventus.

At home, Napoli also experienced a decline in performance with two consecutive draws. However, they hope to repeat their 3-0 win over Fiorentina in the previous meeting and record a double win over La Viola for the first time in four years.

Meanwhile, Fiorentina is in a bad period. They were thrown into seventh place in the standings after competing for the Champions League zone. The 2-3 defeat to Panathinaikos in the European Conference League last Thursday exacerbated the situation of Raffaele Palladino's team.

La Viola have only won one of their last five matches in Serie A and suffered four defeats. This condition made Palladino's position as coach began to be questioned. Moreover, Fiorentina also failed to maintain a clean sheet in the last eight away matches in all competitions.

Napoli and Fiorentina have beaten each other in their last six meetings in Naples. At the last meeting at Stadio Maradona, Fiorentina won 3-1. However, with the visitors' poor performance, Napoli were more favored to win.

This time, Napoli still cannot be strengthened by Frank Anguissa and David Neres who are absent due to injury. Antonio Conte will most likely retain most of the line-up that performed well against Inter Milan, with Billy Gilmour remaining a mainstay in midfield.

Pasquale Mazzocchi is also still absent, so Leonardo Spinazzola and Matteo Politano are expected to fill the wing in the 3-5-2 formation. Mathias Olivera, who just signed a contract until 2030, is back on track after recovering from injury and is ready to compete with Spinazzola on the left.

On the front lines, Romelu Lukaku will return to the duet with Giacomo Raspadori. Lukaku only needed one more goal to reach 10 league goals this season, which will be the 12th season in a row where he scored double-digit goals in Europe's top league. Since 2012-13, only Robert Lewandowski has a better record than him.

In the Fiorentina camp, Raffaele Palladino is predicted to rotate after the European Conference League match. Main goalkeeper David de Gea will return to replace Pietro Terracciano under the bar.

Moise Kean, who is the team's top scorer this season, is likely to remain on attack. However, Fiorentina will lose Nicolo Zaniolo and Rolando Mandragora who have to undergo suspension. Meanwhile, Marin Pongracic, Andrea Colpani, and Michael Folorunsho are still doubtful about appearing injured.

Napoli have a great chance of winning given Fiorentina's poor performance, especially in away matches. However, La Viola could surprise if it was able to perform solidly and take advantage of the gaps in Napoli's defense. This duel is predicted to be fierce and interesting to watch.

Napoli (3-5-2): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Burongiorno; Politano, Gilmour, Lobotka, McTominay, Spinazzola; Raspadori, Lukaku.

Fiorentina (3-5-2): De Gea; Gumuzzo, Mari, Ranieri; Dodo, Adli, Cataldi, Ndour, Gosens; Beltran, Kean.