Napoli cling to fading scudetto hopes

ROME - Napoli host Chievo at the San Paolo on Saturday in the belief the Serie A title is still up for grabs despite leaders Juventus sitting on a comfortable cushion at the top in Italy.

Friday, January 24, 2014

ROME - Napoli host Chievo at the San Paolo on Saturday in the belief the Serie A title is still up for grabs despite leaders Juventus sitting on a comfortable cushion at the top in Italy.Juventus hold an eight-point lead on second-placed Roma and a 12-point lead on Napoli, and will look to take their lead on the Giallorossi, who face Verona early Sunday, to 11 points.The Bianconeri have won their last four away games at Lazio and, after 20 games of the season, look to be well on their way to a third consecutive scudetto.Napoli defender Christian Maggio, however, is not giving up hope of Antonio Conte’s men slipping up over the course of their 18 remaining matches."A twelve-point deficit to the leaders is a lot but you can never say in football,” Maggio said. "Of course Juve look unstoppable at the moment and Roma look to be the team we have a chance of catching... but we can’t ever give up.”The Argentinian striker, who has 10 league goals, can equal the same total (11) after 21 league games as Diego Maradona did on his debut season with Napoli in 1984/85 when the Partenopei claimed a historic league title.In-form Juve visit capitalJuventus head to the Olympic Stadium hoping to eclipse what has been an eventful week on and off the park with what would be their ninth consecutive victory away to the Biancocelesti.Juve’s bid to offload striker Mirko Vucinic in a proposed swap deal that would have seen Inter Milan’s wantaway Colombian forward Fredy Guarin move the other way collapsed in midweek.