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Napoli have a fantastic opportunity at hand, and they need to fight hard to take advantage of it. When they go to face Frosinone on Sunday, they can put a stranglehold on second place in Serie A -- and maybe, if they're lucky, take first place for their own.
With Fiorentina's loss on Saturday, Napoli have actually passed them in the standings without having played their match yet, thanks to the Viola no longer holding a goal differential advantage in the tiebreakers. A win for Napoli would put them a full three points clear of Fiorentina, and at worst they'd have a one-point edge on third place depending on other results -- just as long as they win, of course.
Napoli would also have the chance to move into first place provided that Inter Milan fail to win against Sassuolo. The neroverdi have been a tough opponent to face all season long, and considering Inter's rather unimpressive play of late -- even if they have won three out of their last five matches -- a draw or loss for the nerazzurri is far from out of the question. Of course, that result and it's impact on Napoli's Serie A standing is out of their control -- all they can do is make sure they win their match against Frosinone and hope for the best.
A win feels likely, considering the relative disparity between the two teams and their form. Frosinone are one of the three newly-promoted teams in Serie A, and sit in 18th place in the league -- not a huge shock when you look at their squad, which is still heavily populated by players who would be better off in Serie B with a few loanees and rejects from bigger teams mixed in for good measure. That said, they're not going to be a walkover -- all four of their wins this season are at home, and their goal differential is significantly better at home (14 scored and 15 allowed for a -1 differential) than it is on the road (5, 21, -16).
That means that Maurizio Sarri and Napoli won't be able to just walk into this match assuming they have it won. They'll have to deploy a strong squad and play with their usual efficiency in order to assure that they come away with three points. A likely point in their favor is actually going to be the crowd -- thanks to the relative proximity of Frosinone to Naples -- a 90 minute or so trip between the stadiums -- a large contingent of Napoli fans are expected at the Stadio Matusa. We've all seen the impact that large groups of Napoli fans can have away from the San Paolo, helping lift the team to positive results in the past -- and now they're needed as much as they've ever been.
Projected Lineups Sure To Be Wrong
Frosinone: Leali; Ciofani, Blanchard, Diakite, Crivello; Paganini, Gucher, Sammarco, Soddimo; Dionisi, Ciofani
Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Koulibaly, Albiol, Ghoulam; Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Insigne
At A Glance
Frosinone: 18th; 4W 3D 11L; League Form: DLLLW
Napoli: 2nd; 11W 5D 2L; League Form: WWDLW
Watch It
TV: beIN Sports (U.S. & Canada), Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport 1 HD Italia, Premium Calcio (Italy), ESPN UK (U.K.)
Online: Fubo TV, beIN Sports Connect (U.S. & Canada), 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.