Hosts to sparkle
Napoli v Monza
Sunday 21 August, 17:30
Live on BT Sport 1
Osasuna had a couple of players cautioned in their 2-0 win over Cadiz last night, but neither of them were David Garcia, who annoyingly for us stayed out of the referee's notebook. It's been a tough week, but we hope for better in Italy this evening, as Napoli face newly-promoted Monza.
I must admit I feared for Napoli ahead of this campaign. They lost hometown talisman Lorenzo Insigne, record scorer Dries Mertens and defensive rock Kalidou Koulibaly in the same summer. However, a strong transfer window has made them potential challengers for Champions League football once again.
Spurs midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has the chance of a fresh start, exciting Sassuolo forward Giacomo Raspadori has been signed on loan, and the club spent a chunk of cash on Fenerbahce's South Korean defender Min-Jae Kim. Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratshkelia is a wild card, and Gio Simeone will try to replicate his goalscoring form from Verona.
If you think there's been upheaval in Naples, you should see what's happening in Monza. The club has been promoted to Serie A for the first time ever, and it's being powered along by the old Milan dream team of Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani. Monza have made 20 (yup, TWENTY) signings, although some of those involved keeping some of the promotion squad together. There are exciting acquisitions in there, like Matteo Pessina and Stefano Sensi, but there's a lot for coach Giovanni Stroppa to do to get the team settled down.
Napoli won 5-2 at Hellas Verona in their league opener, and Victor Osimhen was one of five different scorers. The Nigerian is their focal point in attack, and he netted 14 league goals last term. Against a Monza team that is still organising itself and getting to grips with Serie A (they lost 2-1 at home to Torino last week), I think Napoli can win and Osimhen can score, so I've put that into a Bet Builder.