Napoli Coach Rafa Benitez might rest Marek Hamsik against Sampdoria, while Sinisa Mihajlovic must choose between formations.
The two teams face off tonight in Week 13’s closing fixture, with the winner guaranteed a return to third place in the table.
Napoli are in the process of rotating several of their players after the Europa League game against Sparta Prague and might be revising their starting line-up substantially.
Napoli Coach Rafa Benitez might rest Marek Hamsik against Sampdoria, while Sinisa Mihajlovic must choose between formations.
The two teams face off tonight in Week 13’s closing fixture, with the winner guaranteed a return to third place in the table.
Napoli are in the process of rotating several of their players after the Europa League game against Sparta Prague and might be revising their starting line-up substantially.
Christian Maggio and Faouzi Ghoulam are expected to return as full-backs while Gokhan Inler will reprise his role in the midfield.
Napoli's attack will be contingent on the state of Dries Mertens, who should at least return on the bench.
If the Beglian cannot join the ranks behind Gonzalo Higuain, then Hamsik will likely play, in spite of having already covered the full games against Cagliari and Sparta, and the Slovakia-Finland match less than two weeks ago.
Mihajlovic's Sampdoria is less subject to change – Pedro Obiang and Angelo Palombo should be confirmed in the midfield, but the question is whether and how to use Roberto Soriano.
The Italian national can be deployed as the trequartista in a 4-3-1-2 behind Stefano Okaka and Eder. This, however, would mean leaving Manolo Gabbiadini on the bench.
The alternative would be to keep Gabbiadini in a 4-3-3, in which case Mihajlovic will have to choose between Soriano or Nenad Krsticic for the last remaining spot in the midfield.
Probable line-ups
Sampdoria: Romero; De Silvestri, Gastaldello, Silvestre, Regini; Palombo, Obiang, Krsticic; Soriano; Okaka, Eder
Napoli: Rafael; Maggio, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Inler, Lopez; Callejon, De Guzman, Mertens; Higuain