Napoli can move into fifth place with a win over Roma when Paulo Fonseca’s struggling side travel to the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday evening.
The Vesuviani lost to Atalanta last time out, but have otherwise returned from the break in impressive fashion, winning the Coppa Italia and climbing the league table with victories over Verona and SPAL.
The visitors, however, go south after back-to-back defeats, most recently an abysmal 2-0 home loss against Udinese that all-but ended their hopes of a top four finish.
David Ospina, Kevin Malcuit, Allan and Fernando Llorente are injured for the hosts, while Roma are without Mert Cetin, Bruno Peres, Juan Jesus and suspended winger Diego Perotti.
Napoli have made four changes to the side that lost in Bergamo, as Alex Meret, Kostas Manolas, Jose Callejon and Arkadiusz Milik start.
Fonseca has surprisingly opted to switch to a three-man defence, with Pau Lopez and Gianluca Mancini back from injury and midfield pair Jordan Veretout and Lorenzo Pellegrini returning from suspension.
Victory for Napoli will see them draw level with Roma on 48 points, but they could go above the visitors in the standings on head-to-head if they win by a greater margin than 2-1; the Lupi’s result in this fixture back in November.
The Giallorossi haven’t managed to record a league double over Napoli since 1997/98, but the hosts have failed to beat the Romans at home in six years.
Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Mario Rui, Fabian, Demme, Zielinski, Callejon, Milik, Insigne.
Roma: Pau Lopez; Ibanez, Mancini, Smalling; Zappacosta, Pellegrini, Veretout, Spinazzola; Mkhitaryan, Kluivert; Dzeko
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com