Following what striker Andrea Petagna described as their "worst game of the year" on Sunday, Napoli have the ideal opportunity to bounce back as they welcome troubled Torino to Stadio Diego Maradona on Wednesday.

The Granata hope to end a sorry year on a rare high note, after their home draw with Bologna last time out leaves them languishing third from bottom of the Serie A standings on just seven points.

Match preview

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Napoli's outspoken club president Aurelio De Laurentiis announced on Monday that his squad would enter a training retreat to prepare for their final test of 2020 against Torino, after the Partenopei followed up an unlucky 1-0 defeat to Inter with a lacklustre 2-0 loss against Lazio.

A pair of wonderfully-taken goals saw Gennaro Gattuso's side succumb to their Roman rivals for a top-four spot as they put in a rare damp squib of a performance at the Olimpico. It was the first time Napoli have lost consecutive league games since January so they will be doubly determined to end the term with a win on Wednesday.

This week, the club won their third appeal against a 3-0 result awarded to Juventus in October after the match was called off at short notice, so the game must now be played at a later date and their subsequent one point penalty has been revoked.

The original fixture had been abandoned when Napoli did not travel to Turin for the fixture due to a travel ban imposed by Neopolitan health officials, but overturning the verdict now means they close the points gap to Juve and the Milan clubs without even taking the field.

Increasingly influential forward Hirving Lozano has played 12 games this season - scoring six times and contributing two assists - but seems set to miss out after picking up an injury in Rome. With big-money buy Victor Osimhen still sidelined through a lingering shoulder injury, Gattuso must again improvise when selecting his final XI of a relatively successful first year in charge.

Fortunately, their opposition are in dire straits at the moment and Napoli have stayed unbeaten in their last 10 Serie A matches against the Granata, whose last win in this contest was back in March 2015.

Club captain Lorenzo Insigne particularly enjoys taking on the Turin outfit, as he has been directly involved in 10 goals against them - with five goals and five assists - which is a joint-record for the striker against a single Serie A opponent. Likely to start in the absence of Dries Mertens, he will certainly fancy his chances of further improving that tally against a sieve-like defence.

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Torino have not won in the league since a victory over fellow strugglers Genoa back at the start of November and have picked up just one point from the last 12 available.

Embattled coach Marco Giampaolo reverted to 4-3-1-2 against Bologna at the weekend, as Serbian playmaker Sasa Lukic crept closer to the excellent performances he produced before suffering a debilitating COVID-19 infection.

With creative hub Lukic in the side - sitting behind twin strikers - Torino had managed to bag two or more goals in a series of six successive games, though also had significant trouble in keeping the back door shut.

As a result, Il Toro have effectively dropped a staggering 21 points from winning positions in Serie A so far this campaign - five more than any other side in the top five European leagues in 2020-21. All of which means that Torino have won just one of their opening 13 league games this season, the fewest at this stage of a campaign in their lengthy top-flight history.

Giampaolo's average points record (of 0.54 per match) is the worst for any permanent Torino manager in the three-points-per-win era and the current Granata boss has personally lost six of his last seven league encounters against Napoli. Difficult reading for the long-suffering Torino tifosi, as they anticipate Wednesday's game in trepidation rather than hope.

Napoli Serie A form: LWWWLL
Napoli form (all competitions): DWDWLL

Torino Serie A form: WDLLLD
Torino form (all competitions): LDLLLD

Team News

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Napoli forward Hirving Lozano was carried off with an ankle injury in the defeat against Lazio, so is unlikely to feature on Wednesday and defensive mainstay Kalidou Koulibaly has now been ruled out until after the winter break.

Skipper Lorenzo Insigne returns from suspension in time to replace Lozano, with Dries Mertens and Victor Osimhen also currently sidelined. Andrea Petagna once more starts up front.

Expected to persist with a 4-3-1-2 setup, Torino coach Marco Giampaolo will probably revert to the experience of striker Simone Zaza alongside perennial top scorer Andrea Belotti, with Sasa Lukic filling the 'trequartista' role.

Brazilian defender Lyanco misses out through suspension so Nicolas Nkoulou will step in at centre-back, while Federico Bonazzoli and Cristian Ansaldi both have thigh injuries and may not make the squad.

Napoli possible starting lineup:
Meret; Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Maksimovic, Ghoulam; Demme, Bakayoko; Politano, Zielinski, Insigne; Petagna

Torino possible starting lineup:
Sirigu; Izzo, Bremer, Nkoulou, Rodriguez; Meite, Rincon, Linetty; Lukic; Verdi, Belotti

We say: Napoli 2-2 Torino

After securing Europa League progress following a relentless autumn/winter schedule, Napoli have seemingly started to run out of steam at the turn of the year, so may be susceptible to a surprise result this week.

Marco Giampaolo has pleaded for - and subsequently received - patience from the Torino hierarchy but time is surely ticking down on his tenure in Turin.

Pulling off an against-the-odds result in Naples, then, could prolong his stay and give the Granata hope that 2021 will be kinder to one of Calcio's most historic clubs.

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Written by
Jonathan O'Shea

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