The fallen giants of Italian and English football are set to square off at San Paolo stadium, hoping to kick-start what is looking like a very disappointing season.

Having largely impressed last season and reinforced the squad with Inler, Pandev and Britos, among others, the Partenopei were tipped to fight for honours on both domestic and European stage.

However, while the Azzurri progressed from a very difficult Champions League group, beating Manchester City to the second place in the standings, they have been pretty disappointing in Serie A most of the time.

Napoli largely struggled to keep up with the leading pack, although they have been showing some improvement of late.

Walter Mazzarri’s side returned to contention for Champions League places with back to back wins over Chievo and Fiorentina, and they now want to keep the rich vein of form with a good result against Chelsea.

With the Blues struggling for form of late, Napoli look a good bet at odds of 2.40 (7/5) offered by BetVictor.

Hugo Campagnaro is a doubt after picking up a calf injury against Fiorentina, but keeper Morgan De Sanctis should return to the side.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-2-1): De Sanctis – Britos, Cannavaro, Aronica – Maggio, Inler, Dzemaili, Zuniga – Hamsik, Lavezzi – Cavani.

This clash comes at a very bad time for Chelsea seeing the Blues are going through a very rough patch at the moment.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side slipped to fifth place in the Premier League standings as they lost to Everton, and that was their fourth successive league game without a victory.

The Blues then failed to win the FA Cup tie against Birmingham despite the fact the Portuguese manager had fielded his virtually strongest line-up.

Just three days after the disappointing draw with Birmingham, Chelsea are set to face in-form Napoli at their San Paolo, so you will forgive me for seeing no value in odds of 3.25 (9/4) offered by Bodog on away win.

Ashley Cole remains sidelined with a calf injury, whereas John Terry is a major doubt. Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Jose Bosingwa should return to the starting line-up. Check out the latest Ladbrokes special including Didier Drogba.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Cech – Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Bosingwa – Meireles, Essien, Ramires – Sturridge, Drogba, Mata.