Victor Osimhen scored his 19th goal of the season, extending both the club’s current win streak and the player’s current goal-scoring run to eight consecutive matches. Here are four takeaways selected by Forza Napoli Press.
From the Corner
Napoli have demonstrated this season that they can score goals in a variety of different ways: well-worked team moves, individual moments of brilliance, (sometimes) from the penalty spot and, as demonstrated against Empoli, from the set piece.
Napoli earned seven corner kicks in the first half alone, and converted two of them into goals. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia routinely set up at the edge of the Empoli area to win the second ball. After wayward shot attempts on Napoli’s first two corner kicks, the Georgian adjusted for the third, lobbing the ball to Piotr Zielinski at the second post. The Polish international volleyed the ball into the danger area before Ardian Ismajli inadvertently cleared the ball into his own goal.
Napoli doubled their lead inside half an hour with another set piece. Once again Zielinski and Mario Rui stood over the ball. Again, the pair picked out Kvaratskhelia at the corner of the area, this time after a short give-and-go. The Georgian took a brilliant touch to control the heavy pass, before curling his shot through the crowd. Gueglielmo Vicario saw the shot late and could only parry the ball straight to Victor Osimhen, who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. The Nigerian tapped in his league-leading 19th goal of the season, extending his goal-scoring run to eight consecutive matches.
Seeing Red
The only negative from an otherwise dominant performance was Mario Rui’s straight red card in the 67th minute. After colliding with Empoli substitute Francesco Caputo, the Napoli left back kicked out at the Empoli forward, who stayed down in pain. Though Giovanni Ayroldi did not see the foul in live play, it didn’t take long for the match official to brandish the red card after being called to the monitor by the VAR.
For the first time this season, Napoli played with ten men, and they seemed completely unfazed. Even a man short, Napoli continued to press high and create chances. Both Osimhen and his replacement, Giovanni Simeone, came close to scoring after the red card.
Keeping it Clean
With the 0-2 victory, Napoli recorded their 12th clean sheet of the season and their fifth in the club’s last six league matches. While Alex Meret has been sharp when called upon, the clean sheets are as much a credit to Napoli’s ball possession and defensive play as they are to its goalkeeping.
The league-leaders held Empoli to 46% ball possession, 0 shots on target and an xG of 0.6. Over their last six matches, Napoli’s opponents have averaged 37% ball possession, 2.2 shots on target and an xG of 0.5. In plain English, Napoli are keeping their sheets clean by giving their opponents very little of the ball and limiting their chances when they do have the ball.
Vicario
For the umpteenth time this season, Guglielmo Vicario was Empoli’s best player. The shot-stopper made two big saves on Osimhen, who otherwise could have had a hat trick for the second consecutive match. Heading into this match, Empoli had conceded 29 goals, compared to an xGA of 36.1 – a difference of 7.1. With Napoli registering an xG of 2.5 but only scoring twice, that figure increased to 7.6. In other words, Empoli should have conceded nearly eight more goals than they’ve actually conceded so far this season, and that is largely due to the play of Vicario.
