Overview
After ending a long unbeaten streak in Serie A with a 0-2 defeat to Lazio right at home at Stadio Maradona, Napoli quickly responded with an impressive performance in the last match of April.
Scott McTominay's classy early goal opened up a favorable game, before Napoli scored 3 more goals in 10 minutes of two halves. The 4-0 victory over Cremonese helped them consolidate their position in the competing group, creating a 2-point gap with AC Milan.
Currently, the Scudetto race is almost decided when Inter Milan maintains the leading position and may win the championship early. Therefore, Napoli's realistic goal at this time is to maintain a position in the top 4 to win a ticket to the UEFA Champions League.
Coach Antonio Conte wants to complete that goal as soon as possible, but the challenges ahead are not easy when they have to play away at Sinigaglia stadium of Como.
Napoli's away record this season is not really convincing. In all competitions, Conte's team has lost 9 away matches - the worst record since 2014. This forces them to approach the match with Como cautiously, especially after the difficult 0-0 draw in the first leg in November.
On the Como side, this team is also not an easy opponent. They once defeated Napoli at the Sinigaglia stadium last season, and also eliminated this opponent on penalties in the recent Coppa Italia quarter-finals.
Although they later lost to Inter in the semi-finals and went through a period of stagnation, Como managed to return with a 2-0 victory over Genoa. However, the race for a Champions League spot is becoming difficult as they are far behind Juventus and face fierce competition from AS Roma.
Under the leadership of Cesc Fabregas, Como still shows clear progress. Since the beginning of 2026, only Inter and Napoli have won more points than them. Not only that, the Lombardy team also maintains an average scoring efficiency of more than 2 goals per game, and also owns one of the most solid defenses in Europe with an impressive number of clean sheets.
Personnel situation
Napoli expects captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo to return after an injury lasting since January. Currently, the away team is only missing Romelu Lukaku, David Neres and Antonio Vergara.
Antonio Conte is unlikely to change the squad that is in good form, meaning Napoli may keep the starting lineup. In attack, Rasmus Hojlund continues to play the center forward role in the 3-4-2-1 formation.
Hojlund has scored 10 goals since returning to Serie A, while his former Manchester United teammate Scott McTominay is also having an impressive season with 9 goals.
The Scottish midfielder even has a chance to go down in history when he has scored in 3 consecutive away games recently, and may become the first midfielder in the 21st century to score in 4 consecutive away games in Serie A.
On the other side, Como possesses a fairly effective attack with Tasos Douvikas and Nico Paz - both have 12 goals in the tournament, only behind Lautaro Martinez (16 goals) in the top scorer race.
In addition, Nico Kuhn and Jesus Rodriguez are also notable options in attack, but Martin Baturina and Assane Diao are still being rated higher to complete the attacking trio.
Regarding the force, Como welcomed good news when Mergim Vojvoda and Sergi Roberto returned to full training. Currently, Jayden Addai is the only name still absent from the home team's squad.
Expected lineup:
Como: Butez, Smolcic, Ramon, Kempf, Valle, Perrone, Da Cunha, Diao, Paz, Baturina, Douvikas.
Napoli: Milinkovic-Savic, Olivera, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Politano, Lobotka, McTominay, Gutierrez, De Bruyne, Alisson, Hojlund.
The match between Como and Napoli takes place at 11:00 PM on May 2nd (Vietnam time).
