Sampdoria vs Napoli Preview: Classic Encounter, Team News, Predictions & More
Napoli travel to Sampdoria in their third game of the Serie A season this Sunday, one game ahead of their counterparts who had their first fixture last weekend.
The visitors have had a solid start to life without Maurizio Sarri, with two wins from two leaving them behind Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus on goal difference.
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Partenopei Gli Azzurri won both fixtures between these two last year with a dramatic 3-2 victory at the Stadio San Paolo before a comfortable 2-0 victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris over Marco Giampaolo's side.
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Sampdoria - L
A slow start to the season for the Blucerchiati, as they look to find their first victory in the Serie A against last seasons runners up in Napoli.
A win in the Coppa Italia third round against Viterbese gave Giampaolo's side a good start before a 1-0 defeat in their Serie A opener to Udinese last weekend.
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Its been a brilliant start to life for new Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti, as the former Premier League manager has back to back victories against very strong Lazio and AC Milan sides to kickstart the season.
A great comeback saw the Partenopei Gli Azzurri come from two goals down against Milan to win 3-2, with all three goals coming in the second half to give Ancelotti his first win at the Stadio San Paolo.
Team News
Sampdoria have no fresh injury concerns as Dennis Praet and Vasco Regini continue to work on their individual programmes, which leaves boss Giampaolo with the same crop of players to pick from last weekends defeat.
Tests showed Praet had a ‘slight concern to his collateral ligament’ in his knee, meaning he could be out for some time, while Regini suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament back in July and is expected to be out for a longer period.
Ancelotti is still unable to choose either left-sided players Amin Younes or Faouzi Ghoulam as they step up their recoveries from injury, with Dries Mertens being the only expected change after the winger's winning goal against Milan.
Younes is expected to return to action in late November after having an achilles tendon rupture back in June. Left-back Ghoulam still doesn't have a timescale on his return after having a knee operation in July.
Potential Sampdoria Starting Lineup: Audero; Murru, Colley, Anderson, Bereszynski; Linetty, Barreto, Ekdal; Ramirez; Defrel Quagliarella
Potential Napoli Starting Lineup: Ospina; Rui, Koulibaly, Albiol, Hysajs; Allan, Hamsik, Zielinski; Mertens, Milik, Insigne
Classic Encounter
Sampdoria 2-4 Napoli (28th May, 2018)
In this classic encounter at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris Napoli took all three points back to Naples after a thrilling game that included five goals in 30 minutes.
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The game was a tight affair when Mertens scored the opener just after the half hour mark to give Napoli the lead.
Insigne doubled the Naples side lead within eight minutes meaning Sarri's side went into the break with a comfortable lead. Sampdoria responded within five minutes off the restart as Quagliarella halved the deficit for the hosts.
Hamsik and Cellejon made the game out of sight for Napoli either side of the hour mark before Álvarez gave the Sampdoria a consolation in injury time. An entertaining game for all.
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Sampdoria finished that season in a respectable 11th place, whilst Napoli finished third behind champions Juventus and Roma.
Prediction
A comfortable win is expected for Ancelotti, who looks to continue his 100% record with his new club with who many would say is their easiest fixture yet.
Sampdoria will look to keep the game tight for as long as possible in order to frustrate Napoli and try and win the game by the odd goal, which is how they themselves got beat last weekend against Udinese.
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The quality of Napoli's front three is sure to pull though though as Mertens looks to build upon his match winner against Milan last week.
Prediction: Sampdoria 1-3 Napoli
