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Victor Osimhen has another chance to prove himself in a big Serie A game when Napoli play against Juventus.
Napoli will welcome Juventus to the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples in a top-of-the-table clash.
The Neapolitans have a chance to extend their lead over second-placed Juventus to 10 points with a win but the visitors also know that victory reduces the distance to four points.
If Napoli are to secure a positive result in this matchday 18 fixture, they will be heavily reliant on their talisman and top scorer, Victor Osimhen to do so.
Osimhen is pivotal to Napoli’s title charge
Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has been in inspired form for Napoli this season with 10 goals in 13 league games so far, making him the top scorer in Serie A.
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Four of Osimhen’s 10 league goals have been match-winners which is the most winning goals scored by any player in Serie A so far this season.
The biggest criticism of Osimhen so far is that he doesn’t score in big games but he’s so far been dispelling that notion with two goals in four big games.
His stunning goal against Roma won Napoli the difficult away game while the other was an equaliser in a 2-1 win away at Atalanta.
Lazio and Inter Milan are the only two of Italian football’s traditional top-seven teams that Osimhen has played against without scoring this season.
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The above-mentioned stats underline the Nigerian’s importance to Napoli and feeds the notion that it would be near-impossible to beat Juventus without him.
Osimhen’s big-game record
Even as we’ve established Napoli needs Osimhen to play at his best in order to beat Juventus, history suggests they cannot entirely rely on the Nigerian turning up in this one.
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The striker has never scored against Juventus since joining Napoli in 2020, although o be fair, he has only played against them twice because of injuries.
His record in big games is not exactly inspiring at the moment, Osimhen is yet to light it up for Napoli in games against the other teams in Italian football’s traditional top seven.
Osimhen has managed four goals in 18 total games against Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Roma, Atalanta and Lazio combined midway into his third season in Italy.
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Along with his next opponents, Juventus, Osimhen has also never scored against Internazionale in four games and AC Milan in two games.
His favourite opponents among the top teams so far are Atalanta against whom he has scored twice in three games while his other two goals came against Lazio and Roma.
Napoli v Juventus Form, H2H and Prediction
Napoli are currently the toast of Italian football as they sit seven points clear of every other team but Juventus have been quietly building up a strong run of form.
Juventus have managed eight consecutive clean-sheet victories in Serie A to move from mid-table to second.
The Old Lady will be motivated by the desire to match their own Serie A record of ten clean sheets back in 2015/16 and 2017/18 and an accompanying victory which would see them move to within four points of Napoli at the top.
This fixture has leaned heavily towards the home side as the last away win was seven games ago in 2019 when Juventus beat Napoli 2-1.
Napoli have won the last three home games against Juventus, which could inspire confidence to keep the run going.
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