Sarri approaching Juve clash like any other

Napoli will travel to Juventus next week without worrying about the implications in the Serie A title race, according to coach Maurizio Sarri.

League leaders Napoli maintained their two-point cushion over champions Juve with an eighth-straight Serie A win over Carpi on Sunday.

Sarri’s side would take a huge step towards a first Scudetto since 1990 with victory next Saturday, but the boss is calm ahead of a potentially season-deciding encounter.

“We’ll visit Turin with a view to playing our own football and showing the pride of our people,” Sarri said after the win over Carpi.

“Next week I won’t need a great deal of speeches, I’ll show myself being peaceful and calm so that the team can keep a clear head.

“We’ll prepare the game the way that we always do. We’ll isolate ourselves from everything that surrounds us.”

After Juve’s 2-0 win over Frosinone on Sunday – their 14th consecutive league victory – boss Massimiliano Allegri dismissed talk that next week could be a title decider.

But Napoli skipper Marek Hamsik disagrees.

He said: “Winning eight games in a row is a nice achievement, but it would be even better if we could win in the end, because that’s what really matters. 

“Against Juventus we’ll be up for a great game, an elimination match. We’ll go for a win.

“We haven’t thought about Juve so far, but now we have one week to study them and train well. They’re a rival who is doing extremely well, and we know it’s going to be very hard.”