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The winter break is almost here, but first Napoli need to get through one last match -- and it's potentially a doozy. They have to travel to Bergamo to face Atalanta, and that's not always an easy trip for them to make.
Atalanta are an especially annoying opponent for Napoli not just for the sake of history, but for some of their players as well. Guglielmo Stendardo and Luca Cigarini are both former partenopei players -- and we all know how often former Napoli players come back to haunt them -- but they also have German Denis, Maxi Moralez, and Alejandro Gomez leading their line, three perennial thorns in Napoli's side. At least Mauricio Pinilla is out hurt, because that would just be overkill on the "annoying players" spectrum.
Napoli are hoping to get one of Atalanta's thorns back for themselves, though. Manolo Gabbiadini returned to full training late in the week, and he should be available to play against the team he got his start at. He's scored three goals in six matches against La Dea, and will be eager to add more to that total if given the opportunity.
Otherwise, Napoli are at full health, and will this being the last match before the break, should have a bunch of players willing and capable of going full-tilt for that last full measure before taking off for the holidays. Napoli need this win to help arrest the momentum of the unfortunate results they've had the last two weekends in the league, and they can't let anything hold them back from that win. Nothing. There's no excuse. Not even that Atalanta are a bugaboo team for them. There's a win, and there's disappointment. That's it.
Projected Lineups Sure To Be Wrong
Atalanta: Sportiello; Masiello, Paletta, Stendardo, Drame; Cigarini, De Roon, Grassi; Moralez, Denis, Gomez
Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Higuain, Insigne
At A Glance
Atalanta: 9th; 7W 3D 6L; League Form: LWWLD
Napoli: 3rd; 9W 5D 2L; League Form: DLWWW
Watch It
TV: Premium Calcio 1, Sky Calcio 1 (Italy), BT Sport Extra (U.K.)
Online: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.), Sky Go Italia (Italy)
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, we'll have a match thread live here for discussion of the game at hand. You can also follow along with us live on Twitter, and we'll have updates of the most important events on our Facebook page, which you should definitely like.