If you look at the Serie A standings, there are six points separating fifth place — which comes with an automatic slot in the UEFA Europa League for 2020-21 — and eighth place. AS Roma currently sits in fifth place, three points ahead of sixth-place SSC Napoli, who won the 2020 Coppa Italia by beating Juventus on penalties in the final. While none of these teams can realistically contend for the Serie A title, getting that Europa League slot would be a nice prize. On Sunday, Napoli welcomes Roma for a key matchup. Don’t miss our sports betting preview of this Italian soccer showdown. Let’s see how the Serie A odds will be for the Napoli vs Roma.
Serie A: SSC Napoli vs AS Roma (July 5)
- When: Sunday, July 5, 2020, 3:45 pm ET
- Where: Stadio San Paolo, Naples
- TV: ESPN+
- Radio: None
- Live Stream: fuboTV
- Serie A Odds: SSC Napoli 2.17 / Draw 3.85 / AS Roma 3.56
Why should you put your money on Roma?
Roma certainly would like to get a better result on Sunday than they got on Thursday, when they welcomed Udinese to Stadio Olimpico and got dealt a 2-0 whipping from one of the lower-tier teams in Serie A. Kevin Lasagna opened the scoring for Udinese in the 12th minute, and then Roma saw Diego Perotti get shown a red card in the 29th minute, leaving them a man down for the rest of the match (and leaving him under suspension for Sunday’s showdown). Udinese got an insurance goal from Ilija Nestorovski in the 78th minute.
Possession was roughly equal for the match, but Roma mustered more offense, outshooting Udinese, 16-10 (6-3 on target). The match was confrontational; despite just 21 fouls on the match, there were five yellow cards (three to Roma) and that aforementioned red card. Roma forced ten corners, but they could not put anything in the back of the Udinese net. If you like Roma, you see them overcoming that frustration to take the match to a Napoli team that has played well since the resumption of Serie A action.
Why should you bet on Napoli?
Napoli also suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss on Thursday, but theirs came against fourth-place Atalanta, as Atalanta solidified their grip on one of the four UEFA Champions League slots. The match went into halftime as a scoreless draw, but in the first ten minutes of the second half, Atalanta got goals from Mario Pasalic and Robin Gosens to take control of the match.On the day, Napoli had a slight edge in possession and outshot the hosts, 14-8 (6-4 on target). Play was chippy, with 30 combined fouls, and a yellow card for each team. The offensive pressure was somewhat muted, with just ten combined corners (five for each side). If you like Napoli, you see the offense that they have shown in Serie A play since the league started up again showing up to put pressure on Roma. If Roma shows a lack of composure, as they did against Udinese, then things could get ugly in a hurry.
Napoli vs Roma Final Score Prediction
In their last four meetings, Napoli has won once, Roma has won twice, and the teams have drawn once. They last met in November in Rome, with Roma prevailing, 2-1. Given the way the two teams are trending right now, it makes sense that Napoli is the favorite despite trailing Roma in the standings heading into Sunday. It was disappointing for Napoli fans to see them fail to score even a goal against Atalanta, but that is a team that has been trending upward in recent weeks as well. I see Napoli taking advantage of a Roma team on the decline and winning, 2-0.
