Udinese will be looking to take advantage of Napoli’s poor form of late when they meet at the Stadio Friuli on Saturday afternoon.
The two sides last met in April where the home side ended Napoli’s hopes of closing down Roma in second place. Jose Callejon opened the scoring on the day, but a mistake by Pepe Reina allowed Bruno Fernandes to equalise in the second half.
Such errors have plagued Napoli and their coach Rafa Benitez, who finds himself under heavy criticism. A premature exit from the Champions League and a defeat to Chievo Verona has sapped confidence from the dressing-room, making their trip to Udine more anxious then it really should be.
The home side defeated Empoli 2-0 on their opening game of the season, but lost by the same score to Juventus the previous week. Andrea Stramaccioni has taken up the reins from Francesco Guidolin and thus far has had few opportunities to impress.
A victory against a newly-promoted side and a defeat to the league champions makes his progress difficult to judge, but he certainly fortunate to have Antonio Di Natale firing on all cylinders. The veteran striker netted a brace against Empoli and will be looking to prey off of Napoli’s shaken defense.
Napoli come into the fixture off the back of a 3-1 win over Sparta Prague in the Europa League, meaning their opponents will be well rested for the encounter. The only notable absentee for Napoli is Faouzi Ghoulam with injury.
Udinese are without Albert Riera, Maurizio Domizzi and star keeper Simone Scuffet. Greek shot-stopper Orestis Karneziz is expected to reprise his place in Scuffet’s absence, while Di Natale and Luis Muriel will lead the front-line.
Expected Starting XIs
Udinese – Karnezis; Bubnjic, Danilo, Heurtaux, Gulherme; Pasquale, Widmer, Allan, Kone; Di Natale, Muriel.
Napoli – Rafael; Henrique, Albiol, Koulibaly, Britos; Gargano, Inler; Callejon, Hamsik, Mertens; Higuain.
