Napoli’s problems at home got worse when they lost 1-0 to Empoli on Sunday. The Serie A winners are now well behind the leaders in the race for the title this season.
Rudi Garcia’s team hasn’t won in Naples since the end of September, and fans at the Stadio Maradona booed them off after Viktor Kovalenko scored a great goal in the last minute to give Empoli the win.
Napoli is still in fourth place, eight points behind Juventus, which is currently in first place in the league. They are keeping an eye on teams that are trying to get into the Champions League spots.
They will be 10 points behind the leaders after only 12 games if Inter Milan beats Frosinone at the San Siro in the late game on Sunday.
The excitement of last season’s exciting first Scudetto in over 30 years has worn off in the first few months of this season, which has been very bad.
Garcia took over as coach in the summer from Luciano Spalletti, who won the title, but his job is already being called into question, and owner Aurelio De Laurentiis was clearly angry in the stands when his team played badly against Empoli, who have now escaped the drop zone.
If Napoli had won, they would have moved ahead of AC Milan, but Empoli’s goalie Etrit Berisha was in great shape and made some great saves early on from Matteo Politano and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa. He also stopped Khvicha Kvaratskhelia late in the game before Kovalenko’s shocking winner.
Napoli has the 14th best home record in the league. Their road record, on the other hand, is very different: they haven’t lost in any tournament and have won six of their eight games.
If Atalanta beats Udinese on Sunday, they will pass Napoli for fourth place. In other games, Lazio and Roma play the first Rome derby of the season, and Fiorentina hosts Bologna. Both of these teams already look like good bets to make it to European football next season.