Napoli start Stanislav Lobotka and Lorenzo Insigne in this evening’s Serie A trip to Sampdoria, who rely on Fabio Quagliarella and Manolo Gabbiadini.
It kicks off at 19.45 GMT, you can follow the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
Napoli start Stanislav Lobotka and Lorenzo Insigne in this evening’s Serie A trip to Sampdoria, who rely on Fabio Quagliarella and Manolo Gabbiadini.
It kicks off at 19.45 GMT, you can follow the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
Gennaro Gattuso is starting to mould this Napoli side into his image after replacing Carlo Ancelotti in December, with back-to-back victories over Lazio in the Coppa Italia and leaders Juventus in Serie A.
The absentee list is starting to whittle down too, as Kalidou Koulibaly and Dries Mertens are available on the bench after over a month out of action.
However, Allan is still not 100 per cent fit, while both Diego Demme and Fabian Ruiz are suffering from flu symptoms, so January signing Lobotka starts with rarely-seen Eljif Elmas in midfield.
This represents Lobotka’s Serie A debut, as he had only briefly started the Coppa Italia quarter-final with Lazio.
Arkadiusz Milik, Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne again form the front three.
Sampdoria are more solid under Claudio Ranieri, but also fairly unpredictable, as in recent weeks they’ve beaten Brescia 5-1 and lost to Lazio by the same scoreline.
Last week, they failed to break down a Sassuolo side that was down to 10 men for an hour, ending 0-0.
Bartosz Bereszynski is suspended in defence, with Fabio Depaoli, Ronaldo Vieira and Alex Ferrari not fully fit.
There are several former Napoli players in the Samp squad, including Lorenzo Tonelli – who only made the move last month – Manolo Gabbiadini and son of Naples Fabio Quagliarella.
Napoli lost here 3-0 last season, ending a run of six wins and a draw in this fixture.
Sampdoria: Audero; Thorsby, Tonelli, Colley, Augello; Ramirez, Ekdal, Linetty, Jankto; Gabbiadini, Quagliarella
Sampdoria bench: Seculin, Falcone, Vieira, Chabot, Barreto, Bonazzoli, La Gumina, Maroni, Leris, Murru, Bertolacci
Napoli: Meret; Hysaj, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Mario Rui; Elmas, Lobotka, Zielinski; Callejon, Milik, Insigne
Napoli bench: Karnezis, Ospina, Koulibaly, Luperto, Maksimovic, Allan, Demme, Llorente, Lozano, Mertens, Politano
Ref: La Penna