Things have not exactly gone to plan for Napoli of late. They're out of the Champions League. They're on the ropes in the Coppa Italia. They're effectively out of the Serie A title race, and trailing rival Roma in the battle for second. Simply put, with Crotone coming to the Stadio San Paolo, Napoli need to beat the daylights out of the struggling, tiny team.

Of course, this is the exact kind of fixture that has been a trap for Napoli for years. Facing a team they should handily stomp on, they over rotate, they under prepare, or they go way too far off the gas — or worse, they do some combination of all three.

That cannot be the case on Sunday. Napoli cannot afford to slip up and drop more points right now — their confidence has taken too much of a beating, and their goals are drifting too far out of reach. They need to absolutely batter Crotone to make sure to regain some semblance of momentum, because failure of any kind right now is simply unacceptable.

Watch it

When: 3 p.m. CET, 10 a.m. ET

Where: Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy

TV: Sky Calcio 2, Premium Sport 2 (Italy), BT Sport 3 (U.K.)

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