Bologna, Torino and Cagliari all play before Napoli face

Bologna, Torino and Cagliari all play before Napoli face leaders Lazio

The weekend fixtures put most of the sides around Napoli on the pitch first. Parma's 3-0 win at Bergamo has also tightened the bottom half.

by Gennaro SanninoThursday 5 November, 10:44 CET· 4 hours ago

Girone: il Parma passa a Bergamo e aspetta il Bologna, la Juventus va a Firenze — Grafica Arena Napoli

Napoli go into Sunday's game against Lazio already knowing how most of their nearest rivals got on. It is a tight part of the table, and there is very little room in it.

Monday's results

The round's last two games were played on Monday, and both were away wins at the bottom of the table. Parma won 3-0 at Bergamo and Fiorentina won 4-2 at Sassuolo. Parma, Fiorentina and Sassuolo are now on 8 points, one more than Monza.

Atalanta lost at home by three goals and sit 13th on 11 points. Napoli supporters count them among the club's equals, yet they are three points below Napoli, who are eighth.

Friday and Saturday

The next round opens on Friday 6 November at 20:45 CET with Venezia-Udinese, bottom against second-bottom, 3 points against 5.

Two games at 15:00 on Saturday 7 November matter directly to Napoli: Torino-Lecce and Cagliari-Frosinone. Torino and Cagliari both have 13 points, one fewer than Napoli. Frosinone, sixth on 20, travel to Sardinia.

The Saturday game that matters most to Napoli is Parma-Bologna at 18:00. Bologna are level with Napoli on 14 points. They go to the Tardini, Parma's ground, to face a side fresh from the 3-0 at Bergamo, and they play the day before Napoli do. At 20:45 Roma, third on 24 and a point behind Inter, host a Sassuolo side that has just lost 4-2 at home.

Sunday

Napoli play Lazio at 12:30 CET (11:30 UK, 06:30 ET) on Sunday 8 November. Lazio top the table on 28 points, fourteen clear of Napoli. At 15:00 Genoa, on 13, host Milan, fifth on 21. At the same time Atalanta visit Monza, who are 18th on 7 points. The evening game at 20:45 is Fiorentina-Juventus. Juventus are seventh on 17, three points above Napoli.

Little margin

The fixture list means Napoli will kick off knowing the results of Bologna, Torino and Cagliari. One side is level with them and three more are a point behind, so a defeat against the leaders could cost more than one place over a single weekend.

After the 4-1 in Porto, Napoli have no margin, either in the table or in the confidence of their own fans. The sides around them have a chance to overtake them before a ball is kicked at the Maradona.