Napoli v Palermo – Match Preview: Rosanero travel to Serie A chasing Partenopei

Date: 27th October 2015 at 12:46pm
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palermo napoliNapoli host Palermo on Wednesday evening at the Stadio San Paolo, as they look to continue their recent spectacular run of form in Serie A.

The Partenopei are unbeaten since August and have won eight of their past nine matches in all competitions, including victories over Juventus, AC Milan and Fiorentina.

New coach Maurizio Sarri has introduced the perfect tactics to the team, which allows for the release of Napoli’s astounding attacking forces. Gonzalo Higuain is currently the top scorer of Serie A with 9 goal in 12 appearances and Lorenzo Insigne is playing some of the best football of his career, making 6 goals and 3 assists in 10 appearances.

In addition to this, Sarri has managed to drastically improve Napoli’s defence, which under previous coach Rafael Benitez was the weak spot of the team. Both Raul Albiol and Kalidou Koulibaly are playing very well and as a result they have conceded only 3 goals in the past 9 fixtures.

With 3 games in 8 days, Sarri will probably make some mild changes in the line-up, in a bid to keep everyone fit for the upcoming matches. Former Tottenham Hostpur defender Vlad Chiriches will probably start in place of Koulibaly against the Rosanero and also Dries Mertens may replace José Callejon.Sporticos_com_ssc_napoli_vs_us_palermo

Differently from Napoli, Palermo are having a more complicated season. They have won only one of their previous 7 games, losing 4 games in a row and currently occupy eleventh place in the league, five points above the relegation zone.

The Rosanero have seemed for most of the past month pretty far from the entertaining side of last year. However, they will be encouraged by the fact that they have avoided defeat in their previous two matches.

Coach Giuseppe Iachini has struggled to find the right balance in his team recently, however he has deployed mostly the same starting XI in the past two successful games and he is likely to leave everything as it is, with expert midfielder Enzo Maresca and the Swedish Under-21 international Oscar Hiljemark alongside Luca Rigoni in midfield. In attack, veteran striker Alberto Gilardino will once again pair up with the dynamic Franco Vazquez.

Form Guide: Napoli (W-W-W-W-W) Palermo (L-L-L-W-D)

Expected Starting XIs;

Napoli: Reina, Hysaj, Albiol, Chicheres, Ghoulam, Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik, Insigne, Higuain, Mertens

Palermo: Sorrentino, Struna, Gonzalez, Andelkovic, Rispoli, Rigoni, Maresca, Hiljemark, Lazaar, Gilardino, Vazquez

 

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