Napoli vs. Palermo, Serie A 2016: Confirmed lineups, team news, and how to watch online

Napoli are in Sicily to face Palermo, and we’ll be seeing two players in the lineup for the first time this season: the first start for Piotr Zielinski since he signed with Napoli, and the season debut of one Christian Maggio.

He’s baaaaaaaaaaaaack.

The reason Maggio’s inclusion is fairly obvious: Elseid Hysaj had a couple of rough matches before the international break, and he just played 90 minutes for Albania a few days ago and had to travel back. Seeing Allan and Dries Mertens head for the bench is interesting, though, given that both players are rested and have been in excellent form.

In the case of Allan, it seems likely that Maurizio Sarri wants to come out swinging with a more aggressive attack in this match. If that’s the case, the more attacking outlook of Zielinski makes sense, who can play the same general role as Allan does, though with a more offensive mindset to it than Allan typically brings.

For Mertens it’s a bit tougher to figure out, though Napoli do need to get Lorenzo Insigne back in form and need to see how he pairs with Arkadiusz Milik over a longer spell of a match. If it doesn’t work, Mertens is on the bench and has a long history of providing a notable impact off it — we just have to hope Sarri doesn’t wait too long to pull the trigger if that needs to happen.

Lineups

Napoli: Reina; Maggio, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Zielinski, Jorginho, Hamsik; Callejon, Milik, Insigne

Palermo: Posavec; Rispoli, Goldaniga, Rajkovic, Aleesami; Hiljemark, Gazzi, Jajalo; Embalo, Diamanti, Sallai

Watch It

When: Saturday, 8:45 p.m. CET, 2:45 p.m. ET

Where: Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, Italy

TV: BT Sport 3 (U.K.), Sky Sport 1 HD Italia, Sky Calcio 1, PremiumSport HD (Italy), RAI International

Online: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.), BT Sport Live Streaming (U.K.), Sky Go Italia (Italy)

You can find additional viewing options on LiveSoccerTV, and as always, you can discuss the game at hand in the comments below (links to illegal streams will be removed and repeat offenders banned). You can also follow along with us live on Twitter, and we’ll have updates of the most important events on our Facebook page.