Napoli and Roma reshuffle

By Football Italia staff

Both Napoli and Roma will be forced into some radical changes in this afternoon’s head-to-head for second place.

It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.

Only one point separates these two sides going in and whoever wins will emerge as the early Scudetto contender to leaders Juventus.

Maurizio Sarri has to reshuffle, as top scorer Arkadiusz Milik has been ruled out for four to six months with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, sustained while on international duty with Poland.

Manolo Gabbiadini has struggled in the centre-forward role before, but is given the reins in a trident attack, although Dries Mertens and Jose Callejon are options as False 9 figures.

Lorenzo Insigne is expected to start rather than Mertens in the front three.

Defender Raul Albiol also misses out with a muscular problem, so Nikola Maksimovic will start at centre-back with Kalidou Koulibaly.

Allan seems to be the favourite rather than Piotr Zielinski for midfield.

Roma unexpectedly lost Kevin Strootman (back pain) and Bruno Peres (muscular) in yesterday’s final training session.

They are added to the long-term absence of Thomas Vermaelen, Antonio Rudiger and Mario Rui.

Radja Nainggolan is also not 100 per cent fit and was forced to miss international duty with Belgium last week.

Nonetheless, as the situation in midfield is so dire, Nainggolan is expected to start with Mohamed Salah and Diego Perotti, fanning out behind centre-forward Edin Dzeko.

Alessandro Florenzi moves to right-back, while Juan Jesus is the favourite for left-back ahead of Emerson Palmieri.

Probable line-ups

Napoli (4-3-3): Reina; Hysaj, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Gabbiadini, Insigne

Napoli bench: Sepe, Rafael, Maggio, Chiriches, Strinic, Zielinski, Tonelli, Diawara, Giaccherini, Rog, Mertens, El Kaddouri

Roma (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Juan Jesus; De Rossi, Paredes; Salah, Nainggolan, Perotti; Dzeko

Roma bench: Alisson, Marchizza, Emerson Palmieri, Seck, Gerson, Totti, Iturbe, El Shaarawy

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