Litmus test for leaders Napoli against Juventus

Milan, Nov. 30: Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli face a major test of their Italian league title ambitions when they take on champions Juventus on Friday night in their San Paolo Stadium.

Napoli are riding high this season — unbeaten in 14 league games — to sit top of the Italian league table with 38 points, four ahead of third- placed Juventus.

Juventus’ Serie A dominance, with six consecutive Scudetto trophies, has shown signs of weakness this season.

Two losses — Lazio ending the Turin giants’s two- year unbeaten home record last month, before slumping 3- 2 at

● Napoli are unbeaten in 14 league games to be the leaders of Italian league, four ahead of third- placed Juventus. The latter’s dominance, with six Scudetto trophies, has shown signs of weakness this season.

Sampdoria two weeks ago — have given their rivals hope of a change.

But Massimiliano Allegri’s side still have the most deadly attacking line this season, leading the way with 40 goals, five more than Napoli and 12 Veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini warned that the problem lies in Juventus’ defence which has leaked 14 goals compared to just nine conceded by Napoli.

“Ninety percent of the time, the team that has the best defence wins the league, it is statistics and we want to return to having the most solid defence,” said Chiellini.

“In the last few months we have paid by suffering some highs and lows and conceding goals. We need to find the balance that’s been missing at the start of the season,” he added.

— AFP