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Sports Mole previews Sunday's Serie A clash between Bologna and Napoli, including predictions and team news.

Napoli will be aiming to climb back into the Serie A top four when they travel to Bologna on Sunday.

Gennaro Gattuso's side lost 2-0 to Sassuolo last weekend to drop to fifth, while Bologna got only a second win of the season as they beat Cagliari 3-2.

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Match preview

Napoli recovered from defeat to Sassuolo with a 2-1 victory in the Europa League over HNK Rijeka on Thursday night.

They trailed against the Croatian side, but Diego Demme drew them level with a tap in before an own goal from Filip Braut proved to be the decisive moment.

Attention now turns to making up ground in the league, as they sit five points behind early league leaders AC Milan.

Napoli average the most shots per game in Serie A (19) so the potential is there for a strong season for Gli Azzurri after a disappointing seventh place finish in 2019-20 – their lowest final position in 11 years.

They have not beaten Bologna in their last three attempts, but have happy memories from this fixture after winning 7-1 at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in 2017 - their biggest-ever Serie A away win.

Bologna are unlikely to concede quite that many this time around, but the chances of them keeping a clean sheet seem pretty slim.

After letting in two goals against Cagliari last weekend, Sinisa Mihajlovic's side now hold the unwanted all-time record in Europe's top five leagues of conceding in 39 consecutive league games, surpassing MSV Duisburg's run of 38 matches in 1975.

Nonetheless, they did beat Gli Isolani thanks to a brace from Musa Barrow and Roberto Soriano's strike from outside of the box.

The win lifted them to 13th in the table, but they are still only two points above the relegation zone heading into Sunday's game.

Bologna Serie A form: LWLLLW
Bologna form (all competitions): WLLLWW

Napoli Serie A form: WWLWWL
Napoli form (all competitions): WLWWLW

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Team News

Sinisa Mihajlovic has rarely changed his starting lineup this season and could name the same XI for the second match in a row, particularly after victory over Cagliari.

This is in part down to Bologna's hefty injury list, with the likes of Nicola Sansone, Gary Medel and Andrea Poli all currently sidelined.

Kostas Manolas, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Victor Osimhen were all rested against Rijeka but should return to the Napoli side.

Neither Alex Meret nor David Ospina has been able to nail down the number one spot so far this season, so the latter may get the nod on Sunday simply because he sat out the Europa League game.

Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Silvestri, Danilo, Tomiyasu, Hickey; Schouten, Svanberg; Orsolini, Soriano, Barrow; Palacio

Napoli possible starting lineup:
Ospina; Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Hysaj; Ruiz, Bakayoko; Lozano, Mertens, Insigne; Osimhen

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We say: Bologna 1-3 Napoli

Based on Bologna's poor defensive record, Napoli's talented frontline could come into their own on Sunday. Gattuso's side should claim victory, but Bologna are also in good scoring form, so a clean sheet seems unlikely for either team.

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Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data

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