One of the most poignant fixtures in Napoli history takes place on Sunday night when they welcome Roma to the newly-named Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in honour of their greatest player, who passed away this week.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Rui; Ruiz, Demme; Politano, Lozano, Insigne; Mertens.
Suspended: Bakayoko.
Unavailable: Hysaj, Osimhen, Rrahmani.
Roma (3-4-2-1): Mirante; Mancini, Cristante, Jesus; Karsdorp, Villar, Veretout, Spinazzola; Pedro, Mkhitaryan; Mayoral.
Unavailable: Zaniolo, Pastore, Santon, Fazio, Kumbulla, Ibanez, Smalling.
KEY STATISTICS
– Napoli have won four of their last seven Serie A matches against AS Roma (D1 L2), just one win fewer than in their previous 23 meetings (D6 L12) – since 2016/17 against no other side have the Giallorossi lost more league games (four).
– Roma have scored 74 away goals against Napoli in Serie A: only Milan and Juventus (both at 87) have scored more on the road against the Partenopei in the Italian top flight.
– Napoli haven’t drawn in Serie A this season – only three times have a team begun a Serie A season without draws in their opening nine games played: 1939/40, 1962/63 and 2018/19.
– Napoli have lost their last two league home games: Gennaro Gattuso could become the first Napoli coach to suffer three consecutive Serie A home defeats on two occasions.
– Roma have earned 17 points in Serie A this season: in the previous eight seasons where the Giallorossi have picked up at least 18 points in their opening nine games (in the three points for a win era), they always ended the campaign in the top three positions.
– Napoli are one of the two teams, alongside Parma, that have not yet conceded a goal in the first 15 minutes of play in Serie A this term – in addition, the Partenopei have conceded the fewest goals during the first halves of play, only two (they are followed by Roma, with three).
– Napoli have lost the fewest Serie A points from leading positions in 2020 (four) among the teams with games played in both seasons; on the other hand, only Lazio (24) has gained more points than Roma (20) from trailing situations over the same period.
– Napoli striker; Dries Mertens has scored five goals in his last seven Serie A games against Roma, having scored none in his previous six meetings against the Giallorossi.
– Henrikh Mkhitaryan has scored five goals in his last two league games, the last Roma player to score 2+ goals in consecutive Serie A games was Edin Dzeko in 2017.
– Edin Dzeko has scored two braces against Napoli in Serie A, both at San Paolo: against no other team in the top five European leagues has the Roma striker scored two or more goals in a single game on more occasions.
