Hellas Verona host Napoli at the Stadio Marc Antonio Bentegodi on Sunday as each side battles from separate ends of the Serie A table.
Verona are winless after twelve matches so far this season in Italy’s top flight and fell 2-0 to Bologna in their most recent league fixture.
The poor run of luck and form leaves Verona tied at six points with newly promoted Carpi at the bottom of the Serie A table coming into the game against Napoli.
Credible draws early in the season against the likes of Roma, Atalanta and Torino looked at the time like a slow but decent start, though three loses in their last four matches hints at something more distressing.
Given that drop in results, Verona might not be looking forward to a vastly improved Napoli side’s visit on Sunday, though there might be some hope yet for the Gialloblu.
In contrast to Verona, Napoli’s slow start to the Serie A season blossomed into an indomitable run of results that took them as high as top before a draw with Genoa early in November put in an end to a seven match winning streak in all competitions.
Verona might draw some hope from this modest decline in form from Napoli, though history is not necessarily on their side.
Napoli have won five of the last six meetings between these two teams, with Verona’s one win coming in March of this year.
Verona are due to be without a small host of their most reliable players on Sunday, including Luca Toni, Rafael Marquez, Jacopo Sala, Federico Viviani, Francelino Matuzalem and Artur Ionita.
Dries Mertens is Napoli’s only confirmed injury, though it is possible that Kalidou Koulibaly and Manolo Gabbiadini don’t recover from injuries sustained in the last two weeks.
Form Guide: Verona (D-L-L-D-L) – Napoli (W-W-D-W-W)
Expected Starting XIs:
Verona: Rafael; Pisano, Moras, Helander, Souprayen; Zaccagni, Greco, Hallfredsson; Jankovic, Pazzini, Gomez
Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Chiriches, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Higuain, Insigne
Infographic from sporticos.com
