Napoli in need of home help for Manchester City visit

Having lost both away games, SSC Napoli will be banking on their impressive UEFA Champions League home form to get them back into contention in Group F – easier said than done against leaders Manchester City FC.

• The 2-1 success in Manchester on matchday three means City have won all three games so far, and hold a three-point lead over FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the standings. Napoli are three points further back in third place.

• City will qualify for the round of 16 for the fifth season in succession if they avoid defeat in Naples.

Previous meetings
• The teams' only past fixtures came in the 2011/12 group stage, City's debut UEFA Champions League campaign, when they drew 1-1 in Manchester on matchday one. Edinson Cavani gave Walter Mazzarri's visitors a 69th-minute lead; Aleksandar Kolarov equalised for City, then managed by Roberto Mancini, five minutes later.

• Napoli came out on top in the matchday five fixture back in Italy, however, Cavani scoring twice (17, 49) either side of Mario Balotelli's 33rd-minute goal to secure a 2-1 home victory.

• The line-ups at the Stadio San Paolo on 22 November 2011 were:
Napoli: De Sanctis, Maggio, P Cannavaro, Gargano, Dossena (Fernández 89), Aronica, Campagnaro, Inler (Džemaili 59), Hamšík, Lavezzi , Cavani (Pandev 83).
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta (Johnson 85), Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, De Jong (Nasri 71), Y Touré, Milner, Silva, Džeko (Agüero 81), Balotelli.

• That win proved crucial as Napoli finished second on 11 points, one point and one place superior to their English rivals. 

Match background

Napoli
• The Partenopei have won four of their five home games against Premier League clubs, drawing the other. Their most recent success was a 3-1 home win against Swansea City AFC in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage; they had drawn 0-0 away.

• Before losing at City, Napoli were unbeaten in three matches against Premier League sides (W2 D1), since a 2-0 reversal at Arsenal FC in the 2013/14 group stage. That was their third loss in four trips to England, the 2011 draw at City the only time they avoided defeat in that run.

• Napoli are in the group stage for the second year running. In 2016/17, the Partenopei lost to eventual champions Real Madrid CF in the round of 16, going down 3-1 away and at home.

• Last season's defeat by Real Madrid was only Napoli's second loss in their last 23 European home fixtures (W15 D6).

• In last year's group stage, Napoli picked up four points at home, beating SL Benfica 4-2 but losing 3-2 against Beşiktaş JK.

• The Italian team qualified for this season's group stage by overcoming OGC Nice 2-0 both home and away in the play-offs.

Manchester City
• This is the fourth time City have been drawn in the same UEFA Champions League group as opponents from Italy. In 2014/15 they collected four points from AS Roma (1-1 home, 2-0 away) but in the most recent fixtures, against Juventus in 2015/16, they lost 2-1 at home and 1-0 away.

• That win at Roma was City's only success in their last eight meetings with Italian opposition, home and away (D4 L3), before they ousted Napoli last time out. It is also their only win in Italy, where their record is W1 D2 L3.

• City did not win away in last season's competition, losing at AS Monaco FC (1-3) and FC Barcelona (0-4) and drawing at Celtic FC (3-3) and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-1). The 4-0 victory at Feyenoord on matchday one this term was just City's second in their last eight European away games (D3 L3).

• The Barcelona match was City's biggest European defeat, home or away.

 • Third in last season's Premier League, City are making a sixth successive UEFA Champions League appearance – they have progressed to the round of 16 or beyond in each of the last four campaigns.

• Last term, Guardiola's team came second in their section and lost on away goals to Monaco in the last 16 (5-3 home, 1-3 away).

Coach and player links
• Guardiola played in Serie A with Roma and Brescia, and was a team-mate of Pepe Reina at Barcelona in 2000/01.

• Reina played in England with Liverpool between 2005 and 2013; his record against City was W7 D9 L2 with nine clean sheets in that run – including all of his first six games.

• Vlad Chiricheş played for Tottenham Hotspur FC between 2013 and 2015. His sole appearance against City was a 5-1 league defeat at White Hart Lane on 29 January 2014.

• Emanuele Giaccherini played for Sunderland AFC between 2013 and 2015. In 2014 he was a second-half substitute in the 2-1 League Cup final loss to Manchester City.

• Giaccherini scored in Italy's 2-0 win over De Bruyne's Belgium in the UEFA EURO 2016 group stage. Belgium's Jason Denayer was an unused substitute.

• Lorenzo Insigne scored for Italy against David Silva's Spain in a 1-1 friendly draw in Udine in March 2016.

• Marek Hamšík scored as Slovakia defeated Leroy Sané's Germany 3-1 in a pre-UEFA EURO 2016 friendly.

• Played together:
Vlad Chiricheș & Kyle Walker (Tottenham, 2013–15)
Rafael Cabral & Danilo (Santos FC, 2010–11)

• International team-mates:
Dries Mertens & Kevin De Bruyne, Jason Denayer, Vincent Kompany (Belgium)
Rafael Cabral & Danilo (Brazil, 2012)

Match facts

Napoli
• Kalidou Koulibaly is a booking away from a ban.

• Napoli's run of consecutive Serie A wins was stopped at 13 – eight of them this season – when they drew 0-0 at home against Inter on 21 October.

• The goalless draw meant that Napoli did not concede in three successive Serie A games for the first time since October/November 2015, when they had five consecutive clean sheets.

• The game also saw Napoli fail to score for the first time since the 2-0 home defeat against Atalanta BC on 25 February, a run of 20 consecutive games.

• Napoli returned to winning ways on 25 October with a 3-2 success at Genoa CFC, Sunday's 3-1 home defeat of US Sassuolo Calcio stretching Maurizio Sarri's men's unbeaten run to 23 games (W20 D3) in the league since that loss to Atalanta.

• Napoli have won nine consecutive away games in Serie A and have not lost since the 2-1 defeat at Juventus on 29 October 2016. They have earned 17 league victories and two draws away since then.

• Arkadiusz Milik tore knee ligaments for the second time in 12 months during the win at Spal on 23 September. He was subsequently ruled out for four months after undergoing surgery.

• Mertens, who has scored ten goals in 11 Serie A appearances this season, is on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or. The winner will be announced on 6 December.

Manchester City
• Kevin De Bruyne is a booking away from a ban.

• Guardiola's side have won 13 of their 15 fixtures this season, drawing the other two.

• City are 21 games unbeaten in all competitions (W17 D4) since the 2-1 loss to Arsenal FC in the FA Cup semi-finals on 23 April.

• The Citizens have kept eight clean sheets in their last 12 matches.

• City's goalless draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in the League Cup on 24 October was the first time they had failed to score in 19 matches.

• The draw with Wolves also ended City's club-record run of 11 consecutive victories in all competitions, though they did progress to the quarter-finals 4-1 on penalties.

• City's 3-2 win at West Bromwich Albion FC on Saturday left them with a Premier League record 28 points from their first ten games.

• Sergio Agüero requires one more goal to surpass Eric Brook (177 goals) as City's all-time leading scorer.

• Gabriel Jesus has scored 13 goals in his 19 Premier League appearances.

• De Bruyne is on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or. The winner will be announced on 6 December.

• Benjamin Mendy was ruled out for seven months after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on 23 September. Vincent Kompany (calf) has not played since Belgium’s European Qualifier against Gibraltar on 31 August.