The Serie A title will be decided in five more matchdays, and things only got more interesting last weekend when Napoli got the upper hand on proceedings ahead of the visit of Torino this weekend. Scott McTominay’s solitary goal against relegation-threatened Monza secured a vital win for Antonio Conte’s side, who went level on points with leaders Inter Milan.
Despite the rumours surrounding Conte’s fallout with Napoli supremo Aurelio Di Laurentiis, the Italian manager will be focused on the task ahead to win the club their fourth-ever Scudetto title. Meanwhile, that McTominay goal was his sixth when the scoreline was 0-0, and he has proved to the world that he was worth the gamble in the summer.
Meanwhile, in the title race, Inter Milan lost their game last weekend to top-four chasing Bologna. The Nerazzurri are coming into a tough period of their season, which has also included elimination from the Coppa Italia as well as facing the prospect of the UEFA Champions League semi-final next week. Overall, this should be something Conte will look into as an opportunity to pile on the pressure and keep their momentum with a win over Torino.
Torino have nothing more to play for given where they are in the standings as they sit in a comfortable 1tenth place on the table. Paolo Vanoli’s side are in a decent vein of form coming to Naples, as they have lost only one of their eight games in Serie A.
With nothing more to gain from the season apart from finishing as higher up as possible, Torino will play their proper game against Napoli. The idea here is to keep their momentum, although Vanoli will face the tough prospect of beating an experienced title challenger in Conte at such a crunch phase in the season.
Nikita Contini, Juan Jesus, and Alessandro Buongiorno are the ones missing from action as per initial reports about this upcoming game. The latter is still not fully ruled out of the evaluation, and it may be the case of Antonio Conte making a late call on the defender’s availability.
In case he misses out, Rafa Marin is best placed to keep his place alongside Amir Rrahmani at the heart of the defence. Conte will keep Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Mathias Olivera in the full-back roles.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa will likely replace Billy Gilmour in the midfield setup, even though the Scottish midfielder kept his place against Monza. Stanislav Lobotka and McTominay will keep their places in the midfield. Matteo Politano, Romelu Lukaku and probably Giacomo Raspadori will start in the front three for Napoli against Torino.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Meret; Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Marin, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka, McTominay; Politano, Lukaku, Raspadori
Paolo Vanoli continues to be without a host of his first-team players with at least seven players missing out in addition to Nikola Vlasic, who is a big doubt to participate. Gvidas Gineitis will be suspended for this one, while Valentino Lazaro, Amine Salama, and Alieu Njie are all missing from action in addition to long-term absentees Perr Schuurs and skipper Duvan Zapata.
In the absence of the latter, Che Adams has spearheaded the Torino attack, with the Scotland international matching Denis Law’s goal tally in a single season for the Granata.
Vanoli will continue with his shape using a back four, with Samuele Ricci, Karol Linetty, and Cesare Casadei in the midfield setup. Former Napoli man Eljif Elmas and Antonio Sanabria will start behind striker Adams in the attacking setup.
Probable Lineup (4-3-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Walukiewicz, Maripan, Coco, Biraghi; Ricci, Linetty, Casadei; Sanabria, Elmas; Adams
It has been a tremendous season for McTominay, coming out of a rather toxic environment at Manchester United to shine in Serie A. His goal against AC Monza was the sixth time he found the back of thet net when the score was goalless, and the second matchwinner for the team.
The Scot has proven plenty of his doubters wrong with his performances, as there were question marks about why Napoli and Antonio Conte wanted him. With five games remaining in the Serie A season, McTominay will hope to further improve his tally in the league, with another big performance, this time against Torino.
Torino have been fairly consistent in the time up until this clash, as they have not lost many of their games in Serie A. However, they now face title challengers and at this stage the slight favourites for the Scudetto in Napoli, and Paolo Vanoli’s men might be up for a tough time on the pitch.
Antonio Conte’s style of management comes to its peak in situations like the one Napoli find themselves in. The Italian tactician does thrive in pressure conditions, and with the title on the line, the Napoli boss will want to be at his best. Hence, the Partenopei will play on the front foot and try to get a win under their bag against Torino.
