Genoa - Napoli match preview

Following a late come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Ravenna in the Coppa Italia, the Rossoblu welcome Napoli to Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Edoardo Reja's club has been one of the great surprises of the early Serie A season, maintaining their unbeaten string with tactically brilliant Football.

Gian Piero Gasperini is dealing with a host of injuries that will have a dramatic impact upon the lineup. Match-time fitness tests will determine the eventual lineup but Genoa is likely to be without Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Potenza and Andrea Gasbarroni with Omar Milanetto, Raffaele Palladino and Diego Milito questionable.

Presuming the striking group is healthy I am expecting Genoa to use the following lineup in a 3-4-3:

Rubinho
Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Giuseppe Biava, Domenico Criscito
Marco Rossi/Giandomenico Mesto, Anthony Vanden Borre/Omar Milanetto, Ivan Jurić, Francesco Modesto/Boško Janković
Andrea Gasbarroni/Raffaele Palladino, Diego Milito, Giuseppe Sculli

This match will be won in the midfield. Napoli's midfield quintet of Francesco Montervino, Manuele Blasi, Walter Gargano, Marek Hamšík and Daniele Mannini has stifled attacking forays in each of their five Serie A matches and will look to slow Genoa on Sunday.