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Napoli host Sassuolo in Serie A on Sunday evening, in a clash of two sides who have had an impressive start to their season so far.
Both teams are on 11 points after five games, but Napoli have won a game more than Sassuolo. Gennaro Gattuso's side have been impressive in the start to their season, and have managed to shrug aside the forfeited loss to Juventus and the docked point that came with it.
In midweek, they also opened their account in the Europa League with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Real Sociedad.
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Sassuolo have been mighty impressive to start off their Serie A season, having not lost any of their first five matches. But they had some defensive concerns in their last game - a 3-3 draw against Torino.
Napoli vs Sassuolo Head-to-Head
In 14 games, Napoli have lost just once to Sassuolo, having won nine of those games. Both these teams have played out four draws against each other.
Napoli form guide: W-W-L-W-L
Sassuolo form guide: D-W-W-W-D
Napoli vs Sassuolo Team News
Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas are both back in training for Napoli after missing the last few games due to positive COVID-19 tests.
Kevin Malcuit remains ruled out for Napoli as well. They thought they had received another massive boost in midweek when Lorenzo Insigne started their Europa League clash against Real Sociedad. But their captain suffered a minor thigh strain and is ruled out for the game against Sassuolo.
Gattuso is likely to play it safe with Insigne's fitness, but the likes of Dries Mertens and Kostas Manolas should walk straight back into the Napoli starting XI for this game.
Injuries: Kevin Malcuit, Lorenzo
Suspensions: None
Jeremy Toljan is still out as he has not yet returned a negative COVID-19 test. Lukas Haraslin has also tested positive for the virus and will play no part in this game against Napoli.
Gregoire Defrel and Filippo Romagna are also ruled out with injury concerns.
Injuries: Filippo Romagna, Gregoire Defrel, Lukas Haraslin, Jeremy Toljan
Suspensions: None
Napoli vs Sassuolo Predicted Lineups
Napoli predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Davide Ospina; Elseid Hysaj, Kostas Manolas, Nikola Maksimovic, Mario Rui; Diego Demme, Tiemoue Bakayoko; Hirving Lozano, Victor Osimhen, Matteo Politano; Andrea Petagna
Sassuolo Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Andrea Consigli (GK); Mert Muldur, Gian Marco Ferrari, Vlad Chiriches, Giorgos Kyriakopoulos; Manuel Locatelli, Mehdi Bourabia; Domenico Berardi, Maxime Lopez, Filip Djuricic; Francesco Caputo
Napoli vs Sassuolo Prediction
Napoli are playing some excellent football under Gattuso this season, and are in very good form, but so are their opponents on Sunday. But Sassuolo were not at their best defensively in their 3-3 draw against Torino last week, which is an area that Gattuso will look to exploit.
Prediction: Napoli 2-1 Sassuolo
