How Juventus’ stubborn central block helped steal the points from Napoli

Unbeaten in the previous 18 home matches, Napoli welcomed Juventus to the Stadio Sao Paolo. With Napoli’s streak extending back to March 2018, they were hoping that they could tighten the race at the top of the table to 10 points, but they came into this match having won only one of their last six Serie A matches against Juventus.

At half-time, it looked like Juventus would secure an easy victory even though Napoli controlled the ball. A red card for Napoli’s goalkeeper in the 25^th minute, followed by two set-piece goals for the Bianconeri made it look easy at the half-time break.

The second half changed within 90 seconds after a second yellow card for Miralem Pjanic. With both teams down to 10, Napoli were only 2-1 down in the 84^th minute when they were awarded a penalty. Their chance to secure a draw slipped away however when Lorenzo Insigne hit the post from the spot. Juventus were able to hold onto a 2-1 victory and extend their lead to 16 points as they look to lock up their eighth straight Scudetto.

Lineups

Carlos Ancelotti made only one change from the side that secured a 4-0 victory away at Parma the previous week. Lorenzo Insigne returned from suspension to replace Dries Mertens up front next to Arkadiusz Milik. Manchester United target Kalidou Koulibaly started at centre-back alongside Nikola Maksimovic, helping to form the second best defence in the Italian top tier.

Massimiliano Allegri made four changes to the side that struggled to a rather unimpressive 1-0 victory at the Stadio Renata Dall’Ara over Bologna. Most of the changes were in the back line. Wojciech Szczesny came back in goal for Mattia Perin, while Daniele Rugani was replaced by Giorgio Chiellini. Allegri moved Joao Cancelo back to right-back, sending Mattia De Sciglio to the bench. This meant Federico Bernardeschi moved out to the right wing, and Emre Can and Pjanic then came into the central midfield.