The Napoli juggernaut came to a grinding halt last week against Roma, when the Giallorossi recorded a surprising 4-2 victory over an Azzurri side that seemed lethargic and out of sorts from the get-go.
The Napoli juggernaut came to a grinding halt last week against Roma, when the Giallorossi recorded a surprising 4-2 victory over an Azzurri side that seemed lethargic and out of sorts from the get-go.
Maurizio Sarri’s men had won 10 games in a row going back to December, when they were held goalless at home to Fiorentina a week after a 1-0 loss to Juventus. Sarri will have to make sure that there will be no repeat of that two-match run without a win this time around as another slip-up could see the wheels come off their Scudetto challenge, with the Old Lady breathing down their necks.
Inter have won just two of their last 13 games in all competitions, beating Benevento and Bologna, and have drawn the big games against Juventus, Roma and Lazio in that time.
Luciano Spalletti will have to find a way for his team to get back to winning ways if they really want to have a chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. Top goalscorer Mauro Icardi is back from injury just in time for this match, and he will again be the Nerazzurri’s main or maybe only attacking threat.
Spalletti v Sarri
Spalletti has had the better of the recent meetings between him and his Napoli counterpart, winning twice when he was in charge of Roma, while losing once at the Olimpico. Earlier this season, he parked the bus and ensured his Inter side left Naples with a point, when they held the Azzurri to a goalless draw. Spalletti is an wily old fox and will have no doubt come up with a game plan to stop Sarri’s men from firing on all cylinders. This will be the first time he will have both Rafinha and Icardi available for selection, and the South Americans could offer the goalscoring spark that has been missing from the Beneamata’s line-up for the past few months.
Sarri, on the other hand, will stick with his usual starting XI, with Marek Hamsik returning to the side after the flu ruled him out of the defeat to Roma. The Napoli Coach is a fundamentalist and not once has deviated from the game plan he has drilled into his side over the past three seasons.
Midfield battle
Inter will have to stop Jorginho from setting the tempo in midfield, so Borja Valero could be sacrificed from his own regista duties and instead asked to stick close to the Napoli man in an effort to disrupt the quick flow of his passing routes. As for the Partenopei, Allan has been a warrior this season and will be expected to do the majority of the ball-winning in the middle of the park for Sarri’s side, whereas Matias Vecino and Marek Hamsik should carry the box-to-box expectations of their teams on their shoulders.
The Nerazzurri’s midfielders will have their work cut out as the home fans will expect them to get forward to provide an attacking outlet, while still maintaining their defensive duties and track the Napoli runs from deep.
The Azzurri, for their part, will want to shake off the nervous energy of last week’s disappointment and have to be a lot sharper on the ball than they were in that game.
Insigne v Cancelo
Joao Cancelo is more attacking wingback than defensive full-back, and the Portuguese International will have his work cut out for him when he takes on the tricky Lorenzo Insigne. Sarri’s side live or die by the foot of Insigne. Indeed, stop Insigne and you stop Napoli. The Italian was the southerners’ best player during their defeat to the Giallorossi and the only player to step up to the plate and try driving his team forward. If Cancelo switches off for even one second, Napoli and Insigne in particular will pounce on that slip.
Conclusion…
It’s tough to call this one and predict what will happen. On the one hand, Spalletti might be happy with taking another point off Napoli and setting his side up to be compact and give very little away. Or on the other, because they’re playing at San Siro, Inter and their fans will want to see their side attack and at least try and take the game to the Azzurri, although that would play straight into Sarri’s hands as Napoli love nothing more than a wide-open, good old-fashioned slug fest, with plenty of space to run into.
Napoli will have to exorcise the demons that their defeat to Roma gave them and prove their title challenge hasn’t gone because of just one bad game. They will have to step up and show the world that giving up on the cup competitions to focus solely on the Scudetto wasn’t in vain.
Words: Ciro Di Brita