Defending champions Napoli have hit a rough patch and, hot on the heels of their midweek collapse in Europe, this weekend host an Inter Milan side who have put some early season jitters behind them to join a tight Serie A title race.
Napoli took the lead at PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday but the night ended in a humiliating 6-2 loss to the Dutch while Inter strolled to a 4-0 win at Union Saint-Gilloise. The sides also go into Saturday’s Naples clash in contrasting domestic form.
While Inter lost two of their three opening league games before bouncing back with four consecutive wins, Napoli began with four victories but have suffered defeat in two of their last three Serie A matches.
AC Milan top the standings on 16 points before hosting bottom club Pisa on Friday and are a point ahead of a trio made up of Inter, Napoli and AS Roma, who are at Sassuolo on Sunday.
After winning the Scudetto last season without any European football to contend with, Napoli manager Antonio Conte has repeatedly stated that this campaign would be much more difficult, and blames their problems on too many new faces.
CONTE’S DISCONTENT
“This year, with European competition, we had to bring in a lot of players,” Conte said after Tuesday’s loss.
“In my opinion, nine was too many. Inserting nine new minds into the dressing room is not easy but we had no choice. I’ve always said this season would be complicated, absorbing new things is never simple.”
Conte’s side lost top spot after a 1-0 defeat at Torino last weekend, where Napoli were without midfielder Scott McTominay, who scored twice at PSV, and striker Rasmus Hojlund, although both are expected to start against Inter.
Inter forward Marcus Thuram is still unavailable and manager Cristian Chivu is likely to retain Ange-Yoan Bonny, whose goal earned a 1-0 win at Roma last time out, as the forward partner for Lautaro Martinez.
Francesco Pio Esposito is also pushing to start after scoring his first Champions League goal in midweek. The 20-year-old striker played the full 90 minutes, and Bonny provided the assist having replaced Martinez.
TUDOR UNDER PRESSURE AFTER JUVENTUS SLUMP
Juventus, in seventh and four points off Milan, lost their first game of the season with a 2-0 defeat at Como last weekend, and then suffered another setback in midweek, going down 1-0 at Real Madrid in the Champions League.
In reality, that unbeaten run only told half the story, as Igor Tudor’s side had drawn five consecutive games before those two defeats. Juventus are at 12th-placed Lazio on Sunday.
Milan are unbeaten in their last six league games and will be expected to take all three points against a promoted Pisa side who are without a win on three points after seven matches.
Roma will aim to bounce back from their loss to Inter and keep pace at the top but Sassuolo are unbeaten in three games, a run which has taken them to ninth in the standings.
