Eight places separate Genoa and Napoli in the Serie A table heading into gameweek four's game at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday.
Alberto Gilardino's team have picked up three points from an available nine, with Rudi Garcia's side losing their 100% record to Lazio before the international break.
Match preview
Genoa have had a tough start to the 2023-24 Serie A season, losing twice in their opening three games, and they now have to find a way past last season's defending champions.
Gilardino's team stunned Lazio 1-0 at the Olimpico in gameweek two, but a 4-1 hammering against Fiorentina and a 1-0 loss at Torino have slightly diminished the excitement of beating Maurizio Sarri's men.
The league's new boys seek a giant scalp on Saturday when they welcome the Scudetto holders to Liguria in gameweek four.
Securing a stunning victory over the Partenopei will be Serie A's shock result of the campaign so far, as Gilardino's men seek their first home victory since returning to the big time.
The Rossoblu lost only one game at the Luigi Ferraris last term, conceding 10 times in 19 games, a statistic they are unlikely to match or better this season.
As for Napoli, Garcia's men were brought back to earth before the international break after two victories to start the season.
Lazio beat Napoli 2-1 at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium despite starting the game slowly and playing the entire first half on the back foot.
The Partenopei got into several promising situations but could not capitalise on an evening when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen could not come up trumps.
Even if his second year in Naples has been slowed down by injuries, Kvaradona's form in the concluding weeks of last season inspired little confidence — the Georgian remains without a league goal since March, a penalty against Torino.
Garcia's team travel to Genoa seeking another victory over a new side in Serie A, having already defeated Frosinone.
With Inter and Milan facing off in the derby earlier on Saturday, Napoli have the chance of closing the gap with a victory in the late kickoff.
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Team News
Alessandro Vogliacco and Alan Matturro are not expected to return to the Genoa side until the end of September.
Mateo Retegui netted the winning goal in Rossoblu's win at Lazio, and the striker should lead the attack for the hosts on Saturday.
As for Napoli, Osimhen fired blanks in gameweek three, thus seeing him fall behind Lautaro Martinez (five) and Olivier Giroud (four) in the Capocannoniere race — fresh from a hat-trick for Nigeria on Sunday, the Super Eagle should play a pivotal part for the Azzurri.
Matteo Politano was withdrawn at half time in Italy's draw with North Macedonia last Saturday, making him doubtful for this weekend's clash.
Genoa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Sabelli, Bani, Dragusin, Vasquez; Strootman, Badelj, Frendrup; Malinovskyi, Gudmundsson; Retegui
Napoli possible starting lineup:
Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Jesus, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski; Raspadori, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
We say: Genoa 1-3 Napoli
Osimhen could be back among the goals for a Napoli side keen to get back to winning ways after losing to Lazio before the hiatus, leaving Genoa to wait for their first home win since returning to the league.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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