Smart Acca Picks: Sassuolo vs Napoli Could be One to Watch

On Friday night, Serie A league leaders Napoli travels to 15th place Sassuolo with Luciano Spaletti’s men looking to extend their gap at the top to 18 points.

Sassuolo’s form has been inconsistent of late, as following a 2-0 loss to Lazio, they have drawn 1-1 and 2-2 with Monza and Udinese on either side of 5-2 and 1-0 victories over AC Milan and Atalanta.

Napoli have won all of their last four matches since their shock Coppa Italia exit to Cremonese where they lost 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Their victories have come at the expense of Salernitana 2-0, Roma 2-1, as well as Spezia and Cremonese by 3-0 scorelines.

19th in the table Auxerre hosts ninth-place Lyon at Stade Abbe Deschamps with 20 points separating the two sides.

Auxerre are without a win in their last five matches, following 1-1 and 0-0 draws with Angers and Reims, while being knocked out of the Coupe de France 3-2 by Rodez, on top of further 3-2 and 2-0 losses to AS Monaco and Montpellier.

Lyon have won four of their last five games heading into Friday’s clash, having defeated Ajaccio and Troyes 2-0 and 3-1 on either side of a 0-0 draw with Brest, while beating Lille on penalties in the Coupe de France after a 2-2 draw and earning a reputable 2-1 victory over Lens thanks to goals by Alexandre Lacazette and Rayan Cherki.

Girona versus Almeria sees 11th take on 15th in the La Liga standings.

The home side have managed two wins in their last five games, beating both Sevilla 2-1 and Valencia 1-0, however, they have also suffered three defeats, doing so against Villarreal and Barcelona by 1-0 scorelines, as well as 2-0 away at Cadiz last time out.

Almeria have just one win in their last five outings, with this coming at home to Espanyol via a 3-2 scoreline following 1-1 and 2-2 draws with Atletico Madrid and Valencia. Since the aforementioned matches, Almeria have suffered 2-0 and 3-2 defeats to Rayo Vallecano and Real Betis.

Friday night’s Bundesliga action sees Augsburg take on Hoffenheim in a battle between 13th and 14th.

The home side have managed two wins in their last five outings, doing both times via a 1-0 scoreline against Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen. Their other three matches have seen them lose 3-1 to Mainz and Freiburg, as well as 4-3 away at Borussia Dortmund.

Hoffenheim are on a wretched run of form, as since their 2-2 home draw with Stuttgart on 24th January, they have been beaten 4-1 by Gladbach, as well as 3-1 by both RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen on either side of a 5-2 loss to Bochum.

The final fixture on this Smart Acca Picks list sees fourth and fifth go head to head in Bundesliga 2 as Paderborn goes up against Kaiserslautern.

Paderborn have won three of their last four matches since suffering a 2-1 defeat to Nurnberg just before the World Cup. The home side had beaten Karlsruher 1-0, before losing 2-1 in the DFB Pokal to Stuttgart, however, they did bounce back in impressive style from the latter mentioned loss with 4-1 and 4-3 wins over Fortuna Dusseldorf and Hannover 96.

Kaiserslaturnern’s 1-0 loss to St. Pauli last time out ended a four-match winning run, having beaten Karlsruher 2-0, as well as Fortuna Dusseldorf and Holstein Kiel 2-1 on either side of a 3-1 away victory at Hannover in the run-up to this fixture.

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