Preview: Napoli vs. Inter Milan

Napoli go into Sunday's fixture with Inter Milan having suffered two defeats in their last Serie A games.

Rafael Benitez's side had started 2015 in impressive style, but losses at Palermo and Torino have seen Napoli fall back towards the chasing pack, who are now within a win of stealing third place.

Gli Azzurri will still have ambitions to overtake Roma, but failure to defeat Inter at Stadio San Paolo could see Lazio replace them in the Champions League spots.

Changes could be made after last weekend's setback at Torino, with Gokhan Inler and Manolo Gabbiadini both in contention to start against the Nerazzurri.

Inter Milan have been flying of late, but last Sunday's 1-0 reverse to Fiorentina at San Siro has seen the club drop back down to ninth position in the table.

Before that defeat, Roberto Mancini's outfit had won four out of five in all competitions, but they now find themselves in a situation where they need to avoid another setback against Napoli to remain competitive in the hunt for a European place.

Last week's performance could have been hindered by Xherdan Shaqiri dropping out of the starting lineup, with the Swiss winger having been influential since his arrival from Bayern Munich in January.

He will return to the side, likely in place of the under-fire Lukas Podolski, while Rodrigo Palacio may also be included in the team.

Napoli:

Form in Serie A: WWWLWL Form in all competitions: LWWWLD

Possible starting lineup: Andujar, Albiol, Strinic, Koulibaly, De Guzman, Maggio, Inler, Hamsik, David Lopez, Higuain, Jose Callejon

Inter Milan:

Form in Serie A: LLWWWD Form in all competitions: WWDWWL

Possible starting lineup: Handanovic, Vidic, Campagnaro, Santon, Juan, Medel, Guarin, Brozovic, Palacio, Shaqiri, Icardi

Sports Mole says: 2-1