Gennaro Gattuso aims to pick up his first win as Napoli coach at the second time of asking when he brings his side to Sassuolo in Serie A on Sunday night.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Sassuolo (4-2-3-1): Pegolo; Toljan, Ferrari, Marlon, Kyriakopoulos; Magnanelli, Locatelli; Berardi, Djuricic, Boga; Caputo.

Unavailable: Consigli, Chiriches, Defrel.

Napoli (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Luperto, Manolas, Mario Rui; Ruiz, Allan, Zielinski; Callejon, Milik, Insigne.

Unavailable: Koulibaly, Malcuit, Ghoulam.

Suspended: Maksimovic.

KEY STATISTICS

– Napoli have scored in all of their 12 games against Sassuolo in Serie A, losing only one of these matches (W6, D5).

– After winning the first two away matches against Sassuolo in Serie A without conceding a goal, Napoli have won none of the last four (D3, L1).

– Napoli have won none of the last eight matches in Serie A (D5, L3): the Azzurri last had a longer run without a win in the top flight in 2008/09, under Roberto Donadoni.

– Sassuolo have scored in each of their last eight home matches in Serie A, last going on a longer such run in the top-flight in january 2016 (11).

– Napoli have picked up 21 points in 16 matches in Serie A this season: their worst points tally at this stage since 2000/01, when they were relegated at the end of the season.

– No side has scored more goals than Napoli in the first 15 minutes of matches in Serie A this season (three goals); on the other hand, Sassuolo have conceded the most goals during this period (five).

– Gennaro Gattuso lost his first match as Napoli coach (2-1 v Parma): in the three points for a win era (since 1994/95), only two coaches have lost their first two games in charge of Napoli (Carlo Mazzone and Zdenek Zeman).

– Sassuolo striker Domenico Berardi made his Serie A debut against Napoli, in September 2013 – he has scored two goals against Napoli, including one in the sides 1-1 draw back in March.

– Lorenzo Insigne could join Ciro Ferrara (322 appearances) in sixth place on the all-time Napoli appearance makers list should he feature in this game – the striker has scored in his last two matches in the top flight against Sassuolo, however he has never netted in three consecutive Serie A matches against a single opponent.

– Arkadiusz Milik is Napoli’s top goalscorer in Serie A this season with six goals: the last time the Partenopei failed to have a single player with at least seven goals after 16 matchdays came back in 2000/01.

Source: forzaitalianfootball.com

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement