Napoli and Inter clash for a place in the Coppa Italia semi-final tonight with Gonzalo Higuain against Davide Santon.

It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo at 19.45 GMT and the winners of the knockout round will go on to face Lazio.

The Partenopei are on fine form and closed to within four points of second-placed Roma in the Serie A standings.

They are the reigning Coppa Italia holders, but struggled to get this far, pushed to penalties by 10-man Udinese after a thrilling 2-2 draw.

Napoli and Inter clash for a place in the Coppa Italia semi-final tonight with Gonzalo Higuain against Davide Santon.

It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo at 19.45 GMT and the winners of the knockout round will go on to face Lazio.

The Partenopei are on fine form and closed to within four points of second-placed Roma in the Serie A standings.

They are the reigning Coppa Italia holders, but struggled to get this far, pushed to penalties by 10-man Udinese after a thrilling 2-2 draw.

Faouzi Ghoulam is available again after African Cup of Nations duty, but only returned last night, so Ivan Strinic remains at left-back.

A surprise change is Kalidou Koulibaly at right-back instead of Cristian Maggio, so concern from Rafa Benitez at Inter’s wing-play.

Gonzalo Higuain leads the way with Marek Hamsik, Jonathan de Guzman and Jose Callejon.

If confidence is sky high at Napoli, then Inter are scrambling to rescue something from a disastrous campaign.

They slipped into the bottom half of the table and tension spilled out on Sunday after a 3-1 defeat to Sassuolo, with Mauro Icardi and Fredy Guarin arguing with fans who had thrown their jerseys back at them.

Daniel Osvaldo has been frozen out indefinitely, while Marco Andreolli, Danilo D’Ambrosio and Hugo Campagnaro are sidelined.

Davide Santon was a deadline day signing and is thrown straight into the XI, while Marcelo Brozovic gets his first Nerazzurri start.

Hernanes seems to be taking a deeper role with Xherdan Shaqiri supporting Mauro Icardi and youth team striker George Puscas.

Napoli: Andujar; Koulibaly, Albiol, Britos, Strinic; Gargano, David Lopez; Callejon, Hamsik, De Guzman; Higuain

Napoli bench: Rafael, Colombo, Jorginho, Maggio, Mertens, Gabbiadini, Ghoulam, Uvini, Inler, Duvan Zapata

Inter: Carrizo; Nagatomo, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus, Santon; Brozovic, Medel, Hernanes; Shaqiri; Icardi, Puscas

Inter bench: Handanovic, Berni, Palacio, Kovacic, Podolski, Guarin, Vidic, Kuzmanovic, Obi, Dodò, Donkor

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