Conte: ‘Napoli and Roma want aggression and intensity’
Antonio Conte tries to focus on the ‘good performances’ from Napoli after their Coppa Italia exit, and expects an ‘aggressive and intense’ match with Roma this evening.
It kicks off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the Liveblog.
This had been a Scudetto battle just a few weeks ago, but realistically is now a fight for third place following some disappointing recent results.
Serie A is the only focus for the Partenopei, who in the last month have gone out of the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, losing a penalty shoot-out to Como midweek.
Conte focus on Napoli performances
“We had a very good performance against Como, but once you get to penalties, it can happen that you go out and don’t reach the semi-finals,” Conte told DAZN Italia.
“However, the team is in good condition, putting in some fine games, and there’s not much more I could ask from them. We are finding different solutions, because every time we need to make adjustments when someone else is missing.”
Scott McTominay aggravated a tendon injury during the 3-2 win over Genoa and has still not recovered, so he joins Giovanni Di Lorenzo, David Neres, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, Kevin De Bruyne and suspended Juan Jesus in the stands.
Napoli beat Roma 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico earlier this season, but some of the players who featured heavily in that game like Noa Lang and David Neres are not playing tonight.
“We prepared our usual approach, we certainly won’t sit back and wait for them. We’ll try to attack Roma, win back the ball early, and when we’ve got it then we can try to find solutions to hurt them.
“Roma also rely on aggression and intensity, so I imagine it will be an entertaining match for the neutral,” concluded Conte.