With their Scudetto hopes essentially ended by a late collapse last week, Napoli will aim to restore some pride on Saturday, when they host Sassuolo at Stadio Maradona.
Squandering a two-goal lead in the final 10 minutes saw the Partenopei's dreams of ending a 32-year wait for Serie A supremacy shattered at Empoli, while their visitors were also beaten by a late goal last time out.
Match preview
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Knowing nothing but a win would do if they were to remain even outsiders in the title race, Napoli travelled to Tuscany last Sunday having dropped two points to a stoppage-time equaliser by Roma a week before, and were four adrift of top spot with five games left to play.
Not only did they implode at Stadio Carlo Castellani - allowing opponents who had not won throughout 2022 to fight back from 2-0 down during a crazy eight-minute spell from the 80th minute - but Milan later stole victory over Lazio to leave them well and truly out of the running for silverware.
Following a third successive loss to Empoli in Serie A, Napoli are winless in their last three league matches, and the last time they went on a longer such streak in the top flight was at the end of 2019, when Carlo Ancelotti's reign came to an ignominious end and Gennaro Gattuso stepped into the dugout.
Controversial club president Aurelio De Laurentiis has even gone as far as to apologise to his club's long-suffering fans, who have so often had their hopes stirred in recent times but always end up watching others take home trophies.
Perhaps a little after the horse has bolted, Luciano Spalletti's squad have been sent into a 'retiro' (or training retreat) until the end of the current campaign, which concludes with fixtures against three bottom-half clubs.
Before tackling Torino, Genoa and Spezia, though, Napoli will welcome to Campania a side they have failed to beat in each of their three most recent league meetings - including another late lapse in December's reverse fixture.
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Always a goalscoring threat thanks to their prolific front four, Sassuolo were able to fight back from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw when these clubs last met, with Gianluca Scamacca and Gian Marco Ferrari both finding the net in the final 20 minutes.
The Neroverdi also won their last away match against their southern counterparts, after having drawn two and lost five of their previous seven in Naples, so any inferiority complex will have surely been shed when they arrive at Stadio Maradona this weekend.
Losing three of their last four league games, however, has seen Alessio Dionisi's men hit the buffers following a fine spell of form, and their most recent reverse came at the hands of Juventus on Monday night.
Despite taking the lead through Giacomo Raspadori's 10th goal of the Serie A season, Sassuolo were denied even a point by the somewhat fortunate Old Lady, as Moise Kean snatched Juve's winner with only two minutes left on the clock.
They may well have endured some misfortune at the Mapei Stadium, but Dionisi will be concerned that his team have now gone eight games without a clean sheet in Serie A since returning from San Siro with a 2-0 win over Inter - one of only three shut-outs recorded all season.
Still sitting comfortably in mid-table, the Emilian outfit only have a top-half finish to fight for before the curtain falls on another productive season - one which will end with several of their stars in high demand.
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Team News
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With the absences of Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Kalidou Koulibaly and goalkeeper David Ospina undermining Napoli's defensive efforts last week, Luciano Spalletti will hope that the former can join the latter pair back in his squad for Saturday's game, but young Alessandro Zanoli stands ready to deputise again if required.
Midfielder Eljif Elmas should be available too, having returned to training, while winger Adam Ounas has been sidelined by flu-like symptoms and is a doubt.
Following the debacle in Empoli, not only will Alex Meret make way for Ospina in goal, but Piotr Zielinski and Matteo Politano are also in contention for a recall to the hosts' starting XI.
Joining Victor Osimhen up front, Dries Mertens scored his ninth league goal this season in last week's defeat, and could become only the fourth Napoli player in Serie A history to reach double figures in five different seasons. His illustrious companions in that regard include one Diego Maradona and current teammate Lorenzo Insigne, who reached that particular milestone last Sunday.
Meanwhile, winger Hamed Traore, suspended defender Giorgios Kyriakopoulos and long-term absentees Jeremy Toljan and Abdou Harroui will miss out for Sassuolo, who should remain relatively unchanged despite back-to-back defeats.
Kyriakopoulos will most likely replaced by Rogerio on the left side of the visitors' back four, while Gian Marco Ferrari is also pushing for a start in the centre.
With one goal, captain Domenico Berardi (on 14 Serie A strikes this season) would score at least 15 in a league campaign for the fourth time in his career, and he will join forces with Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca up front.
Napoli possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Zanoli, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Rui; Anguissa, Ruiz; Politano, Mertens, Insigne; Osimhen
Sassuolo possible starting lineup:
Consigli; Muldur, Chiriches, Ferrari, Rogerio; Lopez, Frattesi; Berardi, Djuricic, Raspadori; Scamacca
We say: Napoli 2-2 Sassuolo
Such a stronghold last term, Napoli have already lost eight games this season at the Maradona in all competitions - five of them in the league - so are certainly vulnerable to an adventurous away side with nothing to lose.
Sassuolo can push their hosts all the way with an attacking lineup the envy of much bigger clubs, but Spalletti's men are not finished yet and can at least take a point in their pursuit of taking third place ahead of Juventus.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Napoli win with a probability of 57.08%. A win for Sassuolo had a probability of 22.71% and a draw had a probability of 20.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Napoli win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (7.01%) and 3-1 (6.91%). The likeliest Sassuolo win was 1-2 (5.71%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (8.52%). The actual scoreline of 6-1 was predicted with a 0.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Napoli would win this match.
