Inter Milan’s Mauro Icardi celebrates after scoring during a Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Frosinone
Tuesday, 4:00am
Napoli v Inter Milan
H 1.73, D 3.85, A 5.8
Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain will have an added incentive in his side’s top-of-the-table clash at home to Inter Milan on Monday.
Higuain can equal the record of another Argentine who played for Napoli — a certain Diego Maradona.
No one else has scored in eight consecutive home matches for Napoli.
Higuain has found the back of the net in seven successive matches at the San Paolo: against Sampdoria, Lazio, Juventus, Fiorentina, Palermo and Udinese this season, as well as against Lazio at the end of the last campaign.
Maradona, who is regarded as one of the greatest ever players, set the record in the 1987/88 season.
Higuain leads the Serie A goalscoring charts with 10 and will be fresh for Monday’s match having been rested for Napoli’s Europa League fixture.
Napoli would leapfrog Inter into top spot with a win. Maurizio Sarri’s team is two points behind Inter, level on points with Fiorentina, which visits Sassuolo earlier that evening.
“I hoped this was our time, but I thought our progress would have been slower and more gradual,” Sarri said. “But instead the lads have had two extraordinary months, but you become great if you maintain this for 10 months.”
Napoli’s goal difference is only one more than Fiorentina.
Roma is fourth, just three points behind Inter as this season is shaping up to become one of the most exciting title races of the past few years.
The capital side will be eager to bounce back at home to Atalanta after a miserable week, which saw it held to a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened Bologna last weekend and get crushed 6-1 at Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Juventus fared better in Europe and booked its place in the knockout stages. It heads to Palermo on Sunday looking for a fourth successive win to continue its climb up the table.
Also on Sunday, it’s: Chievo Verona vs. Udinese; Frosinone vs. Hellas Verona; Genoa vs. Carpi; and Empoli vs. Lazio.
AC Milan hosts Sampdoria tomorrow, after Bologna visits Torino. Daniella Matar, Milan, AP / Oddschecker.com
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