Napoli vs Cremonese

The two sides to have experienced contrasting fortunes this Serie A season go head-to-head at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as pacesetters Napoli take on rock-bottom Cremonese.

Inspired by Victor Osimhen’s second-half double, Napoli thumped bottom-half Spezia 3-0 on the road last time out, making it five Serie A wins in a row following a 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan at the turn of the year. Seemingly on the verge of halting a 33-year Scudetto wait, ‘I Partenopei’ head into this round a whopping 13 points clear of second-placed Inter. Luciano Spalletti’s high-flyers toppled Roma 2-1 in their most recent home league outing, taking their outrageous winning home streak in Serie A to eight matches. After claiming an overwhelming 4-1 triumph in the reverse fixture in October, Napoli will be looking to beat Cremonese in back-to-back Serie A H2Hs for the first time in history and make it nine straight home league wins for the first time since 2016.

On the other hand, after leading Cremonese to a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Bologna on his touchline debut, new boss Davide Ballardini has overseen consecutive league defeats. As the only Serie A side yet to win a single top-flight game this term (D8, L13) and the only team yet to hit double point digits (8), ‘La Cremo’ are no longer for top-flight football. Stuck ten points adrift of safety, the visitors could become only the fifth side to go winless in the first 22 matchdays of a Serie A season. Since all four previous sides to have managed that infamous record suffered relegation at the end of the season, Cremonese will be desperate to defy the odds in Naples.