Napoli use Giovanni Di Lorenzo as a centre-back amid an injury crisis, as Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku try to end Inter’s San Paolo taboo.
Follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s SIX Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.
The pressure is on Antonio Conte to deliver three points, as Juventus beat Cagliari 4-0 this afternoon and Lazio beat Brescia on Sunday.
Napoli use Giovanni Di Lorenzo as a centre-back amid an injury crisis, as Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku try to end Inter’s San Paolo taboo.
Follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s SIX Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.
The pressure is on Antonio Conte to deliver three points, as Juventus beat Cagliari 4-0 this afternoon and Lazio beat Brescia on Sunday.
The squad is looking fuller than it has been for a long time, as Lautaro Martinez returns from suspension, while Alexis Sanchez, Stefano Sensi and Nicolò Barella are all on the bench.
It had been reported Sensi would start, but it seems as if the former Sassuolo midfielder is not ready to be risked, so Matias Vecino and Roberto Gagliardini partner Marcelo Brozovic.
Alessandro Bastoni is preferred to Diego Godin in defence, with Danilo D’Ambrosio and Kwadwo Asamoah injured.
Lautaro Martinez partners Romelu Lukaku, as between them LuLa have scored 20 Serie A goals and seven in the Champions League.
Napoli celebrated their first win under new coach Gennaro Gattuso, fighting back for a last-gasp 2-1 victory at Sassuolo on December 22, ending an eight-round drought.
However, there are quite a few injury problems piling up, as Kalidou Koulibaly, Nikola Maksimovic, Dries Mertens, Faouzi Ghoulam and Kevin Malcuit are out of action.
Gattuso stands by his 4-3-3 formation and chooses to move right-back Di Lorenzo into central defence rather than start youth team product Sebastiano Luperto, with Fabian Ruiz able to start in midfield despite flu symptoms.
Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne flank Arkadiusz Milik, again leaving Hirving Lozano on the bench.
Inter have a famously poor record in this fixture, not winning a Serie A match away to Napoli since October 1997, coming back from the Stadio San Paolo with just four draws and nine defeats.
The Nerazzurri have only one loss in their last 13 Serie A away games and that was at Napoli, 4-1 in May.
Napoli: Meret; Hysaj, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Mario Rui; Fabian Ruiz, Allan, Zielinski; Callejon, Milik, Insigne
Napoli bench: Ospina, Karnezis, Luperto, Tonelli, Elmas, Gaetano, Lozano, Llorente, Leandrinho, Younes
Inter: Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Candreva, Vecino, Brozovic, Gagliardini, Biraghi, R Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez
Inter bench: Padelli, Berni, Godin, Alexis Sanchez, Sensi, Ranocchia, Politano, Lazaro, Borja Valero, Dimarco, Barella, Esposito
Ref: Doveri