Football Previews
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis hopes his team can maintain their winning momentum and beat Empoli in Tuscany on Thursday. The azzurri are riding a three-match winning streak in Serie A that has put them firmly in contention for a top-three finish and a spot in next season’s Champions League. The Naples outfit, following 3-0 wins over Fiorentina and Cagliari, defeated Sampdoria 4-2 last weekend to climb into fourth place. They are just one point behind third-place Roma and three adrift of second-top Lazio with six games remaining. “We took an important win against Sampdoria,” De Laurentiis said to the Italian press. “We hope that our players can remain concentrated and continue like this until the end of the season.” Napoli, who will take on Ukrainian side Dnipro in the semi-finals of the Europa League next month, have not shown any weakness during their hot streak. Empoli are unbeaten at home since January 26 but have not won a Serie A game since March 22 and have collected two points since. Last weekend’s 2-2 result at Atalanta was their second straight draw and dropped the Tuscan outfit to 16th place, 12 points clear of the relegation zone. “I prefer to focus on the positives and our recent performances have been good,” Empoli coach Maurizio Sarri said. “I’m optimistic heading into our last six games of the season.” Empoli are without defender Lorenzo Tonelli, who must serve a one-match ban as punishment for trying to intimidate Atalanta forward German Denis. Tonelli allegedly threatened to kill Denis and his family during their game on Sunday. After the final whistle, Denis charged into the Empoli changing room and punched Tonelli. The visitors are without midfielders Juan Zuniga and Jonathan De Guzman, with both sidelined through injury. Argentinian forward Gonzalo Higuain, who struck twice against Samp to increase his season tally to 15 goals, will lead Napoli’s attack.
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Team
MP
W
D
L
F
A
G
P
1
Inter Milan
36
29
5
2
86
19
+67
92
2
AC Milan
36
22
8
6
72
43
+29
74
3
Bologna
36
18
13
5
51
27
+24
67
4
Juventus
36
18
13
5
49
28
+21
67
5
Atalanta
35
19
6
10
65
39
+26
63
6
Roma
36
17
9
10
63
44
+19
60
7
Lazio
36
18
5
13
47
37
+10
59
8
Fiorentina
35
15
8
12
53
40
+13
53
9
SSC Napoli
36
13
12
11
53
46
+7
51
10
Torino
36
12
14
10
33
32
+1
50
11
Genoa
36
11
13
12
43
44
-1
46
12
Monza
36
11
12
13
39
48
-9
45
13
Lecce
36
8
13
15
32
52
-20
37
14
Verona
36
8
10
18
34
48
-14
34
15
Udinese
36
5
18
13
35
52
-17
33
16
Cagliari
36
7
12
17
38
65
-27
33
17
Frosinone
36
7
11
18
43
68
-25
32
18
Empoli
36
8
8
20
26
52
-26
32
19
Sassuolo
36
7
8
21
42
72
-30
29
20
Salernitana
36
2
10
24
28
76
-48
16
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