One of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures on the Serie A calendar will take place at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday night as Napoli welcome Juventus.
The Italian champions are currently four points clear of Inter Milan at the top of the table, while Napoli sit down in 11th having endured a disappointing campaign to date.
Match preview
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Napoli have finished second in Serie A in three of the last four seasons, while they have not ended a campaign in lower than sixth place since 2009.
There is no question that it has been a tough 2019-20 campaign for the Naples club, though, with a record of six wins, six draws and eight defeats from 20 matches leaving them in 11th position in the table.
Now under the management of Gennaro Gattuso following Carlo Ancelotti's departure, the Blues are 14 points off fourth-placed Roma, while they sit 27 points behind Juve heading into Sunday night's contest.
Gattuso has lost four of his seven matches at the helm, including a 2-0 home defeat to Fiorentina last weekend. That said, they did progress in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night courtesy of a 1-0 home success over Lazio, which would have done their confidence no harm at all.
It is certainly a testing time for the club, but there is no question that they are capable of upsetting Juve on Sunday evening despite losing four of their last five league meetings with the reigning champions.
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Juve made it five straight wins in all competitions by overcoming Roma in the Coppa Italia on Wednesday night. Cristiano Ronaldo was again on the scoresheet for the Old Lady, meaning that the Portugal international has netted 12 times in his last nine appearances for the club.
Maurizio Sarri's side have not been without their problems this season, but five straight league victories has put them in command at the top of the division.
Inter are still very much in the argument with a lot of football still to be played, but the Old Lady now have a four-point advantage at the summit and have picked up some big results in recent weeks.
Indeed, they have beaten Roma and Parma 2-1 in their last two league matches, which were both huge victories when considering that Inter have drawn their last two against Atalanta BC and Lecce.
Napoli actually came from three goals behind in the reverse league match in Turin earlier this season to level the scores at 3-3, but a 92nd-minute own goal from Kalidou Koulibaly saw Sarri's side claim all three points in spectacular fashion.
Napoli Serie A form form: DLWLLL
Napoli form (all competitions): WLLWLW
Juventus Serie A form: LWWWWW
Juventus form (all competitions): LWWWWW
Team News
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Napoli have a whole host of injury problems at the moment with Koulibaly, Allan, Kevin Malcuit, Faouzi Ghoulam and Dries Mertens all on the sidelines.
Central defender Nikola Maksimovic could return from a hamstring problem to feature in what would be a huge boost for Gattuso, although Giovanni Di Lorenzo is on standby should that not be the case.
Fabian Ruiz and Sebastiano Luperto were both left out of the starting XI against Lazio on Tuesday but should return for this match, while Jose Callejon, Lorenzo Insigne and Arkadiusz Milik are expected to continue in attack.
As for Juve, Giorgio Chiellini, Merih Demiral, Sami Khedira and Mattia De Sciglio remain unavailable for selection through injury, while the champions have also lost Danilo to a muscular issue.
Rodrigo Bentancur is battling Adrien Rabiot for a spot in midfield, while Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala are competing for the position alongside Ronaldo.
The fact that Dybala was left on the bench against Roma suggests that he might get the nod to start on Sunday night, while Aaron Ramsey was also a substitute in the Coppa Italia clash and should therefore return to the side for this one.
Matthijs de Ligt and Juan Cuadrado are also expected to return to the back four with Danilo and Daniele Rugani given chances during the week.
Napoli possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Hysaj, Manolas, Maksimovic, Luperto; Zielinski, Ruiz, Demme; Callejon, Milik, Insigne
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, Sandro; Matuidi, Pjanic, Rabiot; Ramsey; Ronaldo, Dybala
We say: Napoli 1-2 Juventus
Napoli will see this match as the perfect chance to kickstart their campaign, but Juve have been in brilliant form in recent weeks. We are expecting a very tight match but expect the visitors to emerge victorious.
