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Napoli v. Palermo: Lineups, match discussion, and commiseration

Tullio M. Puglia

With the return of Faouzi Ghoulam to health, Napoli have gone with a mostly full strength lineup, with three exceptions. Duvan Zapata gets his first start of the season in place of Gonzalo Higuain, who looked like he was in desperate need of a rest by the end of the Udinese match. Walter Gargano is also continuing in the place of the injured Jorginho, which... ugh. Whatever. Rafa gonna Rafa. Henrique Buss is also starting in place of Chrisitan Maggio, which in truth might not be much of a downgrade if at all with the form Maggio has been on.

Palermo are going with a little bit more of an aggressive shape in this one, forgoing one of their normal box-to-box mids in favor or starting Andrea Belotti up top next to Paulo Dybala and putting Franco Vazquez behind them in more of a straight playmaker role rather than the support striker he's been so far this season. How Napoli's defense holds up against that attack will be quite a test, and something to look forward to. From behind a couch.

Napoli (4-2-3-1): Rafael; Henrique, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Inler, Gargano; Callejon, Hamsik, Mertens; Zapata

Palermo (3-4-1-2): Sorrentino; Andelkovic, Terzi, Bamba; Morganella, Rigoni, Barreto, Daprelà; Vazquez; Belotti, Dybala

The match will start Wednesday at 8:45 PM CET/2:45 PM EST. Television coverage will be, well, basically non-existent. Italy will have it on SkyGO's streaming service, but there's no English-language options this time around. What few live viewing options there are for this one can be found here (links to illegal streams in the comments will be removed and repeat offenders banned), and as always, you can also follow along with us live on Twitter. If you haven't already, join the community on the Siren’s Song, and join in the discussion below!