Serie A leaders Napoli dropped points for only the second time this season as Hellas Verona put up a brave resistance at the Diego Maradona stadium.
Elsewhere there were wins for Juventus and Atalanta while Roma suffered an embarrassing defeat to newly-promoted Venezia.
At SBOTOP odds of 1.42 to beat Hellas Verona Napoli had their work cut out when Giovanni Simeone gave Hellas an early lead, but they hit back immediately when Giovanni Di Lorenzo converted a free-kick cross from Fabian Ruiz. As Napoli pushed for a winner Verona’s Daniel Bessa picked up a second yellow card and the visitors had five minutes to survive with ten men.
Dries Mertens was inches away from winning the game with a 91st-minute free kick but it crashed back off the post and to safety. The draw takes Napoli on to an impressive 32 points from 12 games but this was an opportunity missed, and with the Milan Derby to follow on Sunday night there is a possibility that Luciano Spalletti’s team will be knocked off the top.
Juventus win but fail to convince
After picking up just one point from their last three games the Old Lady finally earned her fifth win of a campaign which hasn’t really started yet for the Turin side. Juventus began the weekend 16 points off the leaders and it looked like that figure could have been extended as they struggled to break down Fiorentina. But when La Viola went down to ten men as Nicola Milenkovic saw red the numerical advantage eventually got I Bianconeri off the hook.
Federico Chiesa came close, hitting the crossbar, and Alvaro Morata had a goal ruled out for offside but, with just four minutes left on the clock, Juan Cuadrado beat Fiorentina keeper Pietro Terracciano at his near post with a bullet of a shot. That was the Old Lady’s first attempt on target but with 50 per cent possession she eventually managed three shots on target against the ten men of Fiorentina.
With neither of the defensive war-horses, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, in the starting line-up, Daniele Rugani and Mattijs de Ligt were comfortable in centre defence. But the team lacks the leadership of old, with the captain’s armband held by striker Paulo Dybala. Juventus are nowhere to be seen in the Scudetto Serie A 2021 betting odds and that is unknown territory for these players.
Zapata is Atalanta’s go to striker
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta are one of the best attacking sides in Europe and in form striker Duvan Zapata is one of the first names in the team-sheet. He’s currently sitting in fourth place in the race for the Capocannoniere with seven goals from ten league games. The Colombian hit man was on target in Atalanta’s win on Saturday with a clinical winner after Cagliari’s Joao Pedro had equalised Mario Pasalic’s early strike. The victory took La Dea up to fourth in the table.
Atalanta has a top quality attack with Josip Ilicic, Luis Muriel and Ruslan Malinovski all dangerous customers, but Zapata is the main man. He scored in his team’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United last week, when Cristiano Ronaldo denied La Dea a win with an injury time equaliser.
Roma off the rails
Things haven’t been going so well for Roma boss Jose Mourinho. Since he blew his top when his side lost 6-1 to Norwegian minnows Bodo Glimt, his side has won just once in five games, including another draw with Bodo. On Sunday they had a chance to go back into the top four of the league with a match away to strugglers Venezia but they blew it, as the top flight new boys pulled off one of the Serie A 2021 results of the campaign so far. Roma Striker Tammy Abraham has been in good form since his arrival in the summer and when he scored to give I Giallorossi a half time 2-1 lead it looked like three points were on the way to Rome. But when Bryan Cristante fouled Venezia’s Mattia Caldara in the penalty area it began to go pear shaped. Mattia Aramu converted the spot kick and then, with 15 minutes remaining David Okereke won it for Venezia.
If anything the hosts could have extended their lead as Thomas Henry hit the crossbar, though Roma did have a late chance to level but Gianluca Mancini headed skywards from close range.
Mourinho has some work to do.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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