OUR man in Rome Marco Di Cosmo (@scioltz) takes a look at Sunday's Serie A fixtures for us.
AC Milan v Verona | Sunday 14:00 | BT Sport Europe
Verona have changed manager recently, but results have failed to improve in Serie A. On Sunday they have an hard match at San Siro against AC Milan, who are not playing the best football in the world, but someway somehow they are fighting to hit the Top 5.
I'm not sure they will reach those heights as this team is clearly erratic, not only in terms of results, but also with their approach to their games.
Verona have picked up just six points from their first 15 matches and still waiting for a victory this season in Serie A. I expect they'll deploy a counter-attacking style on Sunday and this should lead to an open game. It's Overs for me here.
Napoli v Roma | Sunday 17:00 | BT Sport 1
What a Sunday evening in Serie A! We have Napoli against Roma in the late afternoon (third against fourth) and then Juventus against Fiorentina (second against fifth). I think we'll have lots of fun in both games, as Napoli and Fiorentina represent the best football in Italy by miles.
Roma have been playing terribly in their last few matches. They were fortunate to reach the Last 16 of the Champions League midweek as BATE Borisov looked like stealing a late goal at various points.
This is not the best preparation for a match with Napoli. The home team recently lost 3-2 to Bologna after hitting the summit of the table after composing an amazing run of form.
I'm going with the stats here at the San Paolo. In 10 matches played here, Napoli have scored at least two goals on nine occasions. With a leaky Roma defence I see a difficult day for Rudi Garcia's men and I expect Napoli to win with goals.
Juventus v Fiorentina | Sunday 19:45
Fiorentina are the other Italian team that I do appreciate this season. Paulo Sousa has brought some quality football to town and it's a pure joy to watch Fiorentina every game.
This team have the authority and style to be one of the top teams in Europe, and none of Juventus, Inter or Roma have a similar quality of football.
Juventus are a different beast since Max Allegri turned back to 3-5-2 and they're flying in Serie A with five consecutive wins. Their midweek loss to Sevilla was unlucky.
Juventus have quality upfront, but tend to play with a defensive approach to their games, so it is really difficult to hurt them. I'm not a big fan of backing goals in their games to be honest as Mr. Allegri does not expose his teams and they tend to play really conservatively.
But having said that, when you play Fiorentina they force you to play further up the pitch. So with that in mind I'm going to back both teams to score in this fixture.
Best Bets
AC Milan v Verona – Over 2.5 Goals (4/5 Ladbrokes)
Napoli v Roma – Napoli to win and Over 2.5 Goals (7/5 Paddy Power)
Juventus v Fiorentina – Both Teams To Score (Evens William Hill)
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