Buoyed by the 7-1 hammering of Bologna, Napoli take on out-of-sorts Genoa, hoping to place extra pressure on title rivals Roma and Juventus.

The Rossoblu have slipped to 16th after a seven-match winless run, but the good news is they are still at a safe distance from the bottom three.

Even though Maurizio Sarri’s charges had fared pretty well in the opening exchanges, alarm bells were ringing when starting striker Arkdiusz Milik picked up a serious injury at the start of October.

With Manolo Gabbiadini largely misfiring, the head coach decided to experiment with Dries Mertens as a false nine and that will quickly prove one of his best decisions yet.

The Belgian has flourished in the centre forward role, bagging goals for fun over the last few months, and after another hat-trick he now has 16 goals in 21 Serie A fixtures.

Mertens was not the only one to score three goals for the Azzurri last weekend as Marek Hamsik was on fire as well, so Genoa back line has every reason to dread the trip to Stadio San Paolo.

Napoli are available at 1.91 (10/11) for a half-time/full-time win, and we definitely expect them to pile more misery on the Rossoblu.

Important defender Kalidou Koulibaly and striker Arkadiusz Milik are back in contention, but Lorenzo Tonelli is rated doubtful. Jose Callejon is banned.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Reina – Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam – Zielinski, Diawara, Hamsik – Mertens, Pavoletti, Insigne.

Genoa enjoyed a pretty good start to the current campaign, but the Rossoblu have since suffered a major dip in form that saw them slip to 16th in the league standings.

Igor Juric’s men have failed to win any of their last seven Seire A fixtures, losing five of those games, and they are clearly going through a very rough patch.

Genoa were unable to build on the 3-3 draw with Fiorentina as they suffered a narrow defeat to Sassuolo last time out, so it is clear they need to show a massive improvement if they want to get anything from Stadio San Paolo.

The Rossoblu have been utterly disappointing on the road this season, losing seven of their last nine away games, but they did manage to hold Fiorentina to a 3-3 draw last time out.

Miguel Veloso should be recalled to the starting line-up, while Adel Taarabt is pushing for a starting berth. Mattia Perin and Davide Biraschi remain sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-3): Lamanna – Izzo, Burdisso, Gentiletti – Lazovic, Cataldi, Veloso, Laxalt – Taarabt, Simeone, Palladino.