Juventus v Napoli: Benitez to offer reminder of his class

Rafael Benitez has disappointed in his second season at Napoli

Napoli boss Rafael Benitez has been criticised recently, but a clash with Juventus will bring out his best...

Juventus v Napoli
Monday, 17:30
Live on Sky Sports 5

Match Odds: Juventus 1.9110/11, Napoli 4.94/1, The Draw 3.613/5

With 16 Serie A matchdays complete, it must be about time for the clichd traditional season curtain raiser. That's right, Juventus and Napoli are squabbling over the Supercoppa Italiana, Italy's Community Shield equivalent, three days before Christmas due to summer scheduling difficulties.

Ahead of the Qatar-staged showpiece, Rafael Benitez's Napoli future is a popular calcio conversation starter. Instead of closing the gap to Juventus and Roma, his side have fallen further behind this term.

Though they retain the third and final Champions League qualifying place, there are five other teams within three points of them and two dead-level. Besides, as they learnt a few months ago, all third is worth is a spot in the play-offs and that offers no guarantee of passage to the group stage.

Benitez's contract expires this summer and he has stalled on negotiations, causing president Aurelio De Laurentiis to zing-tastically remark: "Chelsea are continuing quite happily without him. If he doesn't like our project, then we'll get over it."

A trophy would alter the narrative and generate positive publicity and few coaches on the planet do silverware-snaring as well as Benitez. Napoli are in this match as a result of winning Coppa Italia, conquering Lazio, Roma and Fiorentina en route, and he won the Supercoppa with Inter in 2010.

Of course, there have been Champions League, Europa League, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield successes to stack on top of those.

There is a massive champions' advantage - with the scudetto winners prevailing in all four editions so far this decade - but the Azzurri have lost just one in three against the Old Lady and led twice and took them to extra time in the 2012 Supercoppa. Juventus have been held in three of their last four games in all competitions.

Odd or Even

One of the Betfair punting options that rarely gets explored in previews is being able to bet on whether a match has an odd or even number of goals, with zero paying out as even.

Assisted by a growing appreciation of drawing, Napoli have delivered for evens backers in six of their previous seven outings, and Juventus have done likewise in their past four, with both clubs enjoying victories by two-goal margins in their most recent Serie A encounters.

Best Bet: Lay Juventus to win @ 1.9210/11
Other Recommended Bet: Back there to be an even number of goals @ 1.9210/11