Napoli vs Sampdoria preview

December 22, 2017
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Having return to the top of the standings last weekend, Napoli will be hoping to stay there after the Sampdoria game and celebrate Christmas in style.

The Blucerchiati have suffered a dip in form of late, but they are sitting pretty in 6th ahead of the daunting trip to Stadio San Paolo.

Seventeen games into the new Serie A campaign and Napoli lead the chase ahead of Juventus, Inter Milan and AS Roma, and they stand a good chance of being top at Christmas.

However, with another 21 games to go and said teams breathing down their necks, the Azzurri are well aware they will not be able to relax any time soon.

Napoli went through a bit of a rough patch in recent weeks, suffering league setbacks against Juventus and Fiorentina, while crashing out of the Champions League, but they have since returned to the right track.

Back to back wins over Torino and Udinese helped the players restore some of the lost confidence and the Azzurri can now be backed at 1.25 (1/4) to defeat out-of-form Sampdoria.

That is unlikely to be as easy as the odds would suggest, but the good news is that key forward Lorenzo Insigne returns from injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Reina – Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Rui – Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik – Callejon, Mertens, Insigne.

Similar to Atalanta last term, Sampdoria largely impressed in the new Serie A campaign, leaving the likes of AC Milan, Fiorentina and said Orobici trailing in their wake.

Players like Lucas Torreira, Karol Linetty, Duvan Zapata and Dennis Praet impressed in the process, catching the eye of top European clubs, while veteran Fabio Quagliarella proved he still has a lot to offer.

As we have already mentioned, Sampdoria have been going through a rough patch of late, losing three of their last four matches on all fronts.

While crashing out of the Coppa Italia, the Blucerchiati suffered league defeats to Lazio and Sassuolo, while sharing spoils with Cagliari.

Those results are enough to suggest this is not the right time to be facing one of the league’s strongest sides, but the visitors will give their best to be competitive in Naples.

Head coach Marco Giampaolo is sweating over the fitness of key men Duvan Zapata and Karol Linetty, and both could be left out of the starting line-up.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-1-2): Viviano – Bereszynski, Silvestre, Ferrari, Strinic – Barreto, Torreira, Praet – Ramirez – Quagliarella, Caprari.

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