MARCO Di Cosmo (@scioltz) is in the hot seat for another round of Serie A fixtures. Here are his best bets.
Carpi v Juventus | Sunday 11:30 | BT Sport Europe
Juventus are eyeing up a seventh consecutive win when they meet Carpi on Sunday morning. The home side are struggling this season and lie in the bottom three with Verona and Frosinone.
I don’t see Juve having particular problems here and I expect their fantastic run to continue. Carpi will play really defensively but I’m pretty sure Juve will have sufficient weapons to break the deadlock and score freely.
The hosts have only registered five goals in their eight home games, and you can imagine how hard they will find it trying to get past Gigi Buffon’s goal. Juventus -1 for me.
Atalanta v Napoli | Sunday 14:00 | BT Sport Extra
Worrying times for Napoli with just one point secured from their last two matches. It seems after their fantastic win against Inter, where they reached top of the table, they suffered something of a hangover when stuttering against Bologna and Roma.
Their display against the giallorossi was good as usual though, and I can’t see any sort of crisis for them. Atalanta is a hard ground to win at but I just can’t see the Neapolitans flopping again here.
Sampdoria v Palermo | Sunday 17:00
I honestly thought Vincenzo Montella would get off to a better start in his new job at Sampdoria. The new coach is still trying to get his first win despite his superb achievements at Fiorentina and Catania.
I’m pretty sure Sampdoria will benefit from his expertise but his kind of approach may take time to bed in. The right time to pounce might be when his side meet Palermo on Sunday.
Palermo are poor away from home and Sampdoria were P6 W4 D2 L0 at home before this recent hiccup. I see them coming back to form here and registering a win against Palermo.
Inter v Lazio | Sunday 19:45 | BT Sport 1
Inter are surprisingly top of the table with a four point cushion above Fiorentina and Napoli but I don’t think this side can win the title. To be fair though they’ve really improved in recent weeks when using four strikers and being a bit more aggressive.
They now face Lazio who are in bad nick. After the Rome derby the biancocelesti have failed to win a single game and their defence is in big trouble with Dutch star Stephan De Vrij absent. I’m not saying Inter are a cert here but the odds are too generous to ignore.
TOPICS European Football FootballBest Bets
Carpi v Juventus – Juventus -1 (11/10 Ladbrokes)
Atalanta v Napoli – Napoli to win (4/6 William Hill)
Sampdoria v Palermo – Sampdoria to win (6/5 Betway)
Inter v Lazio – Inter to win (8/11 Bet365)
