Napoli vs Sassuolo Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Defending champions Napoli are stumbling through the start of the New Year as the Partenopei now welcome Sassuolo to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Kick-off date/time:
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Napoli preview: Defending champions Napoli
As has been well documented by players and staff, Napoli are dealing with plenty of key injury issues at the moment as the Neapolitans try to defend the Serie A title, but they are struggling to bet any consistency or rhythm.
Napoli come into this one on the back of a goalless draw with Parma in Naples in midweek. That was their third successive draw in Serie A, albeit it has extended their current unbeaten run of form to seven matches across all competitions.
Sassuolo preview: Mid-table Sassuolo
Sassuolo, following their promotion to the top-flight last season, also sit firmly in the middle-of-the-table with six victories, five draws and nine defeats, under the management of 2006 FIFA World Cup winner Fabio Grosso.
The visitors are in poor form at the moment, though, with a 2-0 loss to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico last weekend extending their winless run of form to six matches in Serie A with one win in nine games after a bright autumn.
Napoli team news: Key injuries
Of those key injuries, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku remain sidelined, while Alex Meret and Billy Gilmour are both key doubts.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Rrahmani, Juan; Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, McTominay, Spinazzola; Politano, Elmas; Hojlund
Unavailable: Anguissa (Injured), De Bruyne (Injured), Lukaku (Injured)
Questionable: Meret (Injured), Gilmour (Injured), David Neres (Injured)
Sassuolo team news: Several doubts
Sassuolo head to Naples with plenty of key injury doubts for this one such as Leicester City loanee Woyo Coulibaly and club captain attacker Domenico Berardi.
Predicted XI (4-3-3): Muric; Walukiewicz, Idzes, Muharemovic, Doig; Lipani, Matic, Kone; Fadera, Pinamonti, Lauriente
Unavailable: Cande (Injured), Thorstvedt (Injured), Pieragnolo (Injured)
Questionable: Romagna (Injured), Coulibaly (Injured), Boloca (Injured), Volpato (Injured), Berardi (Injured)
Napoli vs Sassuolo prediction
Napoli are hobbling their way through. Perhaps more so than other archetypal versions of an Antonio Conte side, Napoli have been extremely defensive and lacked attacking fluency, which is even more so the case with their injuries. They face a Sassuolo side that have a lot of talent in transition but they perhaps won’t get the opportunities and space to exploit that and so a low-scoring home win does appear a good bet for this one.
Napoli vs Sassuolo tip: Napoli to win & under 3.5 goals
