The Serie A title competition takes center stage as Napoli plan to cut down their leaders when Fiorentina comes to Stadio Maradona on Sunday.
The Partenopei escaped defeat in their previous Scudetto match-up yet now aim to conclude an extended winless sequence.
The fighting spirit Napoli showed when they earned a point from their matchup with Inter Milan the previous weekend has certainly revived Antonio Conte's dejected state.
Following an unimpressive winter transfer period Inter Milan dropped off first position under the leadership of former Inter manager Antonio Conte while they conceded the first goal at home when Federico Dimarco scored a beautiful first-half free kick.
In the latter stages the home team seized control of the match before Philip Billing managed his second try to score for an important stoppage time goal following Stanislav Lobotka's impressive run.
A disturbing new first emerges since Conte became a manager because his team experiences their longest Serie A winless streak extending to five games after Napoli last defeated Juventus during January.
Napoli scored just three points over their last three Serie A games at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona although they maintained a strong record there before the year's end with nine wins from eleven previous matchups.
The football club from Naples seeks to duplicate their January 3-0 victory by defeating Fiorentina in this round as they go for their first double victory against the Tuscan club since 2015.
One of these clubs has triumphed over the other consecutively since their previous six encounters in Naples and Fiorentina won 3-1 during their last match in February 2018.
They head south this time amidst a concerning slump, as Raffaele Palladino's team has recently dropped to seventh in the Serie A standings after previously competing for a potential top-four finish.
After Thursday's chaotic 3-2 Conference League loss to Panathinaikos, which has put their progression to the quarter-finals in jeopardy, the Florence-based club has now lost four of their last five matches.
Palladino's position has even come under scrutiny—despite his promising start at Stadio Franchi and last week's 1-0 home victory over Lecce—so he will be eager to avoid a third consecutive away defeat in Serie A.
Across all competitions, Fiorentina have managed just one win in their last eight away games and have failed to keep a single clean sheet during that stretch. As a result, halting a Napoli side hungry for the Scudetto could prove to be a significant challenge.
