Napoli are looking to leapfrog Milan in the standings this evening, but amid some heavy absences, it could be a difficult task for Antonio Conte’s men.
In the last few weeks, Napoli have been in tremendous form with four wins on the bounce. As Milan have dropped some points in the same period, the distance between the two teams is now just one point. Tonight’s game, as such, is a huge one for both.
It’s not just a question of prestige either as the prize money changes depending on where you finish in the standings. That likely doesn’t affect the players, though, with Napoli keen on revenge and Milan looking to do the double.
Opposition insight on Napoli
➤ Manager: Antonio Conte
➤ Form (all comps): L-W-W-W-W (most recent)
➤ Top scorer (Serie A): Rasmus Hojlund – 10
➤ Most assists (Serie A): Matteo Politano – 5
➤ Injuries & suspensions: Lukaku, Neres, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Vergara, Hojlund (?).
Milan have of course already played Napoli twice this season, having emerged victorious in the league fixture. In the preview for that game, we recapped all of the summer business that Napoli did, including some of the chaos that surrounded whether Antonio Conte would remain.
Well, there is more uncertainty surrounding Conte going into this game, too. Numerous sources are suggesting that he’s the favourite to take over as the new coach of the Italian national team, after Gennaro Gattuso resigned following the play-off defeat in Bosnia.
Napoli have actually been more consistent than it perhaps appears on the face of things, given that they have never really been in pole position at any point to defend the Scudetto that they clinched in the last round of the 2024-25 campaign.
A period earlier in the year has ultimately cost them as they won just once in a five-game stretch from January 7 to January 25, yet they have been in a Champions League place for the entirety of the campaign.
They come into this game in some good form too, having beaten Hellas Verona, Torino, Lecce and Cagliari in their last four league encounters, all by one goal and three of them by a scoreline of 2-1. The Partenopei also already have the Supercoppa Italiana trophy in the bag from December.’
Conte has a few absences to contend with, starting with winger David Neres who will miss out due to injury. Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani and Antonio Vergara are all also not anticipated to be available.
The mean headlines over the break, however, centred around Romelu Lukaku. Lukaku did not show up for a training session on Tuesday, so Napoli announced they would take ‘appropriate disciplinary’ action, which appears to rule him out for Monday.
“Napoli announce that Romelu Lukaku did not respond to today’s call-up ahead of the resumption of training,” Napoli said in a statement.
“The club reserves the right to evaluate the adoption of appropriate disciplinary measures as well as the continuation of the player’s participation in the team on an indefinite basis.”
Conte is expected to stick with a three-man defence and will use his ‘Fab Four’ in midfield together at once, with McTominay and De Bruyne ahead of Lobotka and Anguissa as per the predictions doing the rounds.
As if the previous absence weren’t enough, it seems Hojlund could also miss out on the big game. The Dane is struggling with a stomach bug and as a result, he might only make the bench. Seeing as he’s their top scorer, this would be a huge blow.
Predicted Napoli XI (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Juan Jesus, Buongiorno, Olivera; Guiterrez, Anguissa, Lobotka, Spinazzola; De Bruyne, McTominay; Giovane.
Predicted bench: Meret, Contini, Beukema, Mazzocchi, Gilmour, Elmas, Politano, Alisson, Hojlund.
