PREDICTED LINE-UPS | Monza v Napoli

With defeats in their previous respective league outings, both Monza and Napoli will aim to get back to winning ways when they face each other at the Stadio Brianteo this weekend. 

Monza have consolidated a seven-point gap from Genoa in 11th place and are only three points away from 8th-placed Napoli. Winning this weekend would prove to be monumental for the Biancorossi as they will be in firm contention for a much higher top-half finish for this season. Raffaele Palladino’s side have been in relatively good form according to their standards in recent matches but they went down against Torino in their last match. However, before that, they recorded wins over Milan, Salernitana, Genoa and Cagliari. The Lombardy-based club have a tough business end of the campaign coming up as they have fixtures against Atalanta, Lazio, Fiorentina and Juventus. 

Meanwhile, Napoli suffered a huge dent in their stride in the six-pointer clash against Atalanta in their previous league game. Goals from Aleksei Miranchuk, Gianluca Scamacca and Teun Koopmeiners silenced the home crowd as La Dea marched towards an emphatic victory. Napoli will hope for the Rome Derby to go Roma’s way as the Partenopei will be able to displace Lazio from 7th place with a win over Monza. Francesco Calzona’s side have departed the Champions League and now they have full focus on the Serie A, to edge a Conference League spot in a rather tumultuous campaign. 

Here are the predicted line-ups for the match according to Sky Italia:

Monza (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Birindelli, Mari, Izzo, Andrea Carboni; Gagliardini, Akpa Akpro; Colpani, Maldini, Mota; Djuric.

Napoli (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka, Traore; Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia. 

Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN