Serie A preview and betting tips: Napoli need to raise game against goal-hungry Inter

Napoli host Inter Milan on Sunday, and Tipstrr football pundit Sergiu Baltuta believes the visitors can exploit the fact that the Serie A champions may already have one eye on their summer break.

2023-05-20Serie A preview and betting tips: Napoli need to raise game against goal-hungry Inter

Inter secured their place in the UEFA Champions League final at the expense of local rivals Milan in midweek, and now, with three Serie A games remaining, they are very close to achieving the other objective by achieving a top four finish in the league.

Eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage and with the title as good as won from the first months of the year, Napoli have not needed to push as hard in the last part of the season.

With a pragmatic play, the new Serie A champions picked up the necessary points, and offered their fans a 1-0 win against Fiorentina in their first home game since officially securing the title.

Overall though, Napoli have picked up just 12 points from a possible 24 since the beginning of April. Six Serie A teams have won more points in this time, including Sunday's opponents, Inter who are seen as favourites by the bookmakers to win the match of the round in Serie A.

Obviously Inter wants the win against Napoli to be certain of their presence in the Champions League next season, but an extra incentive is that they could also become only the third team in 40 seasons to beat the eventual champions both home and away.

The reverse fixture was won by the Nerazzurri, 1-0 and only Sampdoria in 2012-2013 and Torino 1994-1995 have achieved that same double, both against Juventus.

But Napoli will also be aiming for a record in this match because a win against Inter would be the first time in the club's history that they have managed to beat all 19 teams at least once in the same Serie A campaign.

The fight for the top goalscorer title in Serie A is not over yet, and even though Napoli's Victor Osimhen leads with 23 goals, Inter's Lautaro Martinez is only three goals behind the African striker with 20.

The Nigerian is yet to open his account against Inter in four previous encounters, while Martinez has scored four times in the league against Napoli, and the Argentinian will be hungry to add to that total and match (or even exceed) last season's 21-goal tally.