Football Italia
·4 January 2025
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·4 January 2025
Napoli have the opportunity to go clear at the top of the table, but are forced to totally revamp their attack against Moise Kean’s stuttering Fiorentina.
It kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at 17.00 GMT.
The Partenopei are joint leaders with Atalanta, but with La Dea and Inter both in Saudi Arabia for the Supercoppa Italiana, it is a chance for Antonio Conte to temporarily take top spot on their own.
The problem is that Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Matteo Politano and Alessandro Buongiorno are all out of action, so the usual Napoli trident attack is completely transformed.
Romelu Lukaku is instead flanked by David Neres and in a surprisingly advanced role Leonardo Spinazzola, plus Scott McTominay and Stanislav Lobotka in midfield.
TURIN, ITALY – DECEMBER 29: Moise Kean of Fiorentina celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the Serie A match between Juventus and Fiorentina at Allianz Stadium on December 29, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Fiorentina had been making their presence felt in the fight for European places with eight Serie A victories on the bounce, but they’ve hit problems in recent weeks.
Following back-to-back defeats against Bologna and Udinese, they clawed their way back to a 2-2 thriller away to Juventus.
Danilo Cataldi is not at 100 per cent, so with Edoardo Bove unavailable after his cardiac issues, Rolando Mandragora steps into the midfield.
Capocannoniere Kean is supported by Riccardo Sottil and Lucas Beltran, with Albert Gudmundsson benched and coach Raffaele Palladino seemingly moving to a 3-4-2-1 formation.
Lucas Martinez Quarta and Cristiano Biraghi are not even on the bench pending imminent transfers.
Fiorentina: De Gea; Ranieri, Comuzzo, Moreno; Dodo, Adli, Mandragora, Parisi; Beltran, Sottil; Kean
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka, McTominay; Neres, Lukaku, Spinazzola