Napoli and Villareal will face each other Saturday 17 December at 20:30 at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium. The friendly match will be of a high standard, especially considering the previous meetings between the two teams, which were always closely contested.
Ahead of the match, let's analyze the form of the teams, the injured and possible outcomes of the match.
State of form of Napoli
Napoli arrives at the match against Villareal in one good shape. The Neapolitan team comes from two friendly victories against Crystal Palace and Antalyaspor. The two friendlies, despite a few goals conceded too many, showed that Spalletti's team hasn't lost its rhythm.
Currently, Napoli is at the top of the Serie A standings with 41 points (8 points behind Milan, second).
In the last 5 matches, Napoli has collected 5 victories, scoring 13 goals, but conceding 6. Taking into consideration the last 5 matches, only in the match against Empoli have the Neapolitans been able to keep a clean sheet.
As for the injured, Rrahmani continues to stay out of the field. There was thought of his return against Crystal Palace, but that was not the case. Also absent is Min-Jae, Anguissa, Lush e Zielinski, at rest after worldwide shipping.
State of form of Villareal
The state of form of Villareal it is not excellentbut not bad either. The Spanish team is also facing a series of friendlies and, at the moment, they have collected one win (against Galatasaray) and one defeat (against Fenerbahce).
At the moment, Villareal occupies the ninth position in La Liga and is still in the running for a place in the Champions League (fourth in the Spanish league, Ath. Bilbao has 24 points).
Over the last 5 matches, Villareal has totaled 3 wins and 2 defeats. In total, in the last five games, the Spaniards have scored 17 goals and conceded 5, finishing 3 games with clean sheets. The high number of goals is linked to the nine goals Villareal scored against Santa Amalia in mid-November.
Among Villareal's absentees there will be Lo Celso, injured.
Napoli – Villareal: which is the favorite team
The matches between Napoli and Villareal they are never discounted, but they always reserve a great competitive energy and matches drawn up to the last minute.
In last 5 meetings between the two teams, Napoli won twice, Villareal the same and there was a draw. In no case did the sum of the goals exceed the three goals, testifying to the extreme attention that the teams have always put on the field.
Napoli seems to be favourites, but Villareal remains a very difficult fish to peel.
