Southern giants Napoli host their northern rivals Juventus in a much-anticipated Serie A clash on Saturday evening, as they seek to continue their winning start to the season.
Though the Partenopei will have home advantage at Stadio Maradona, they are short of bodies in midfield and somewhat at the mercy of a chartered flight from South America, which will return goalkeeper David Ospina to Naples shortly before kickoff.
The former Arsenal stopper has been passed fit to play as cover for this season's first-choice Alex Meret, who was sent home from Italy's World Cup Qualifying camp having sustained a back injury against Genoa last time out in the league.
In the home side's engine room, Stanislav Lobotka has picked up a muscular injury which rules him out this week, and Piotr Zielinski remains out of commission with a knee problem. Therefore, Andre-Frank Anguissa may make his debut in the centre, having signed on loan from Fulham late last month.
Napoli have received a boost to their hopes of continuing a superb goalscoring record in 2021, after they won an appeal to reduce centre-forward Victor Osimhen's two-match ban for hitting out at Venezia's Daan Heymans during the opening game of the season.
As he is now available to lead the line, the Nigeria international should join Matteo Politano and captain Lorenzo Insigne in head coach Luciano Spalletti's front three to face Juve.
At the other end of the pitch, the settled Azzurri defence is expected to comprise Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Kostas Manolas, Kalidou Koulibaly and Mario Rui, while full-back Faouzi Ghoulam is unavailable through injury.
Napoli possible starting lineup: Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Rui; Anguissa, Elmas, Ruiz; Politano, Osimhen, Insigne
> Click here to see how Juventus could line up on Saturday
Jonathan O'Shea
