It’s a big weekend for Serie A football. Napoli host Inter in a match that could decide the 2024-25 season. The Nerazzurri are currently on top of the table with a one-point margin over the side coached by Antonio Conte, who have only won one of their last five Serie A games played, while Atalanta are back in contention as well and are only three points behind Inter. Simone Inzaghi’s team remain the favorites to win back-to-back Serie A titles, but to do so they have to beat Napoli.
How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday, Mar. 1 | Time: 12 p.m. ET
- Location: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona — Naples, Italy
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Napoli +210; Draw +210; Inter +140
While Saturday’s match won’t really drastically change the chances for the Nerazzurri to win their 21st Scudetto, as they’ll still have time to make a comeback if they fail the win at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, a win against their former manager Conte would send their top competitors a strong message. Inter, despite the good results in all competitions, they’ve also ended up in the top eight of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, have failed in almost all their biggest Serie A games this season.
Up to now, Inter have struggled against most of the big Serie A teams. The Nerazzurri lost once against AC Milan in the first Derby della Madonnina of the season and then also lost the Supercoppa Italiana’s final after the Rossoneri made an incredible late comeback, before drawing in the latest matchup on February 2. The two sides will meet again in April for a two-legged Coppa Italia semifinal after Sergio Conceicao’s team were eliminated in the playoffs of the UEFA Champions League by Feyenoord, the same side that will also face Inter in the Round of 16 starting this week.
Inzaghi’s side lost the latest matchup against Juventus after drawing 4-4 in the opposite matchup at San Siro back in November, showing again issues when they play the big teams. They also drew 0-0 in Milan in their first game against Napoli on November 10. If we take a look at the top four of the Serie A standings, Inter have only won one of the four games played against the top teams, 4-0 against Atalanta way back at the beginning of the season on August 30.
The Nerazzurri need to win against Napoli for two main reasons: first of all, they can make a statement win and increase their gap ahead of Conte’s side, two weeks before facing Atalanta in another key Scudetto game. Then, Inter can also focus more in the upcoming weeks in all the competitions they will play, in particular the UEFA Champions League’s knockout phase that will start next week (you can catch all the action on Paramount+).
While Inzaghi’s team can potentially hope to arrive at the end of every tournament they play, they need to rotate the players in the best way possible to make it happen, as they are also dealing with some injuries. As a matter of fact, Inter will have to play the next two or three games with only two wingers available, as Nicola Zalewski, Carlos Augusto and Matteo Darmian are all not available for Saturday’s game, same as goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who will miss at least another two weeks.
This is going to be a huge game for the ambitions of both teams, as Napoli are also coming from a difficult moment and recently lost away against Como, after drawing three games in a row. Inter have a big chance to give Napoli the ‘kiss of death’ and put themselves in a possible spot to win their back-to-back Serie A title.
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