Napoli will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing loss when they face Hellas Verona at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday afternoon.
The Partenopei fell six points behind Juventus following their 3-1 defeat against Udinese and will now be desperate to secure three points at home to Serie A’s bottom-placed club in order to keep their slim Scudetto chances alive.
Verona are coming off an impressive 1-0 victory away to Bologna, registering just their third win of the season and their second victory in six matches.
The Gialloblu still lie six points away from safety, but have not given up on a survival miracle ahead of their clash with the second-placed Neapolitans.
However, the recent head-to-head record between the clubs does not read well for the Veneto outfit, with Napoli winning five of their last six clashes, scoring a total of 19 goals along the way.
Both of this season’s previous meetings between the two sides ended favourably for the Partenopei, first earning a 2-0 victory at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentagodi in November’s Serie A fixture, before claiming a 3-0 win in December to knock their opponents out of the Coppa Italia.
However, the home side will go into Sunday’s fixture without the services of Serie A’s leading goal scorer, Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentine will serve the first of his four-match ban following his on-field meltdown against Udinese after being shown a red card.
Without their number 9, coach Maurizio Sarri will look to Manolo Gabbiadini to lead the line as other players are now required to assume goalscoring duties.
The task will be made more complicated with the additional absences of Kalidou Koulibaly and Dries Mertens, who will both serve one-match suspensions.
Verona boss Luigi Delneri will also have an understrength squad for the weekend’s fixture, with both Filip Helander and Mohamed Fares set to remain on the sidelines, having also missed Monday’s victory over Bologna. Luca Siligardi also looks likely to also be unavailable for the trip to Naples.
Napoli are guaranteed to remain second in Serie A, regardless of Sunday’s result, though they will be hoping for an AC Milan victory against Juventus which would help to re-ignite their title hopes.
Meanwhile, a surprise victory for Serie A’s cellar-dwellers could see them move to within three points of safety, putting forward a final case for what would be a shock survival in Italy’s top flight.
Form Guide: Napoli (D-W-W-W-L) Hellas Verona (L-L-D-L-W)
Expected Starting XIs:
Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Chiriches, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Gabbiadini, Insigne.
Hellas Verona: Gollini; Pisano, Bianchetti, Samir, Albertazzi; Ionita, Marrone; Wszolek, Gomez, Rebic; Pazzini.
Infographic source: sporticos.com
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com