Napoli visit Milan looking to cut the gap at the top of Serie A
By Matt Addison
Napoli can put a bit of pressure of Serie A league leaders Juventus with a win at fourth-placed AC Milan on matchday 21.
Second-placed Napoli will look to close the gap to Juventus, the current leaders of Serie A, when they face AC Milan at the San Siro on Saturday.
Juve will have the chance to hit back when they play at Lazio on Sunday, but prior to kickoff in Rome, their lead at the top of the table might only be six points should Napoli win.
The game could also be the first Milan must face without Gonzalo Higuain, should a reported move to Chelsea go through, while Krzysztof Piatek could have moved from Genoa as his replacement.
Key battles
Marek Hamsik is not expected to be back yet, so Fabian and Piotr Zielinski will be Napoli’s central midfielders, as they were in the win over Lazio last time out.
New signing Lucas Paqueta is expected to play alongside Hakan Calhanoglu and Tiemoue Bakayoko in the center of the pitch for Milan.
For the hosts, Giacomo Bonaventura, Lucas Biglia and Mattia Caldara are all out with injuries, while the club confirmed a thigh injury to Cristian Zapata which will be reassessed in a fortnight’s time.
Mateo Musacchio and Andrea Conti are likely to be tasked with stopping Dries Mertens and Arkadiusz Milik in Zapata’s absence.
Suso and Patrick Cutrone among the Milan front line. They will face Raul Albiol and Nikola Maksimovic at the heart of the Napoli defence.
Previous meetings
Milan have not won this fixture home or away since December 2014, when they won 2-0 at the San Siro.
That was one of just three victories in the last 17 meetings with the sides, with Napoli winning nine of those matches.
Last season, Napoli won 2-1 at home and the game at the San Siro finished goalless; earlier in the season, Carlo Ancelotti’s team were 3-2 victors. That match, which took place in August, Milan were 2-0 up, but two goals from Zielinski and another from Mertens turned the game around.
The 13-point gap between the pair in Serie A this season suggests that Napoli will be favorites once again in this meeting, although Milan will do their best to help Juve out, bolstering their own European hopes in the process.