Overview
With injuries and indecision starting to affect, Napoli suffered a defeat against Bologna right before the November international break.
After just touching the victory at Dall' Ara Stadium, Antonio Conte's team lost 0-2. This was their third away defeat of the season.
Amid speculation about Conte's possible exit in a dramatic situation, Napoli are still just two points behind leaders Inter Milan. They have maintained an unbeaten record at home this season.
In addition to defeating Sporting Lisbon and drawing 0-0 with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League, Napoli have won 4 out of 5 home matches in Serie A.
Atalanta were still considered a candidate for Scudetto last season when the two teams last met in January, when Napoli won 3-2, in revenge for the heavy defeat at home two months earlier.
Notably, Atalanta have won both of their most recent matches in Naples with the same score of 3-0, but similar results are unlikely to repeat this weekend.
Struggling to escape the brilliant successful era of Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta have only won 2 out of 11 Serie A matches this season. Including a 3-0 home defeat to Sassuolo before the international break.
It is almost inevitable that this weak streak of results has led to a rapid change on the coaching bench. Raffaele Palladino replaced Ivan Juric - who was sacked for the third time in a year.
Palladino inherit a team that is going through an 8-match winless streak in the highest tournament in Italy, despite La Dea winning against Marseille in the Champions League earlier this month.
Stuck in 13th place after nearly a third of the Serie A journey, Atalanta cannot continue to fall behind if they want to maintain their tradition of winning tickets to the European Cup in recent seasons.
Personnel situation
Napoli's concerns have increased as key midfielder Frank Anguissa suffered a serious thigh injury in Cameroon and could be out for about two months.
Goalkeeper Alex Meret, Belgian veterans Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne are also sidelined, while Conte could lose two more players this weekend.
Billy Gilmour ( thigh injury) and Leonardo Spinazzola (hood injury) cannot play for the national team in the World Cup qualifiers. They can only return in the Champions League match against Qarabag in the middle of next week.
In contrast, Palladino has almost all the squad to choose from. Only Mitchel Bakker (crossing ligament injury) who has been absent for a long time is unable to join the Atalanta squad.
While Ademola Lookman is likely to start, it is still unclear whether Nikola Krstovic or Gianluca Scamacca will play alongside the Nigerinian player. Both have not performed convincingly enough to replace Mateo Retegui.
Expected lineup:
Napoli: Milinkovic-Savic, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Gutierrez, Elmas, lobotka, McTominay,Politano, Hojlund, Neres.
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Kossounou, Hien, Djimsiti, Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Zappacosta, De Ketelaere, Lookman, Scamacca.
The match between Napoli and Atalanta takes place at 2:45 am on November 23 (Vietnam time).
