Lazio, five wins from five away, visit Napoli without Zaccagni

Serie A leaders Lazio visit Napoli on Sunday at 12:30 at the Stadio Maradona without their captain, Mattia Zaccagni, and with five wins from five away games behind them. Napoli, eighth on 14 points, come off a 4-1 defeat at Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday. Luca Pairetto referees.

Lazio without their captain

Lazio said Wednesday's tests showed a lesion of the left quadriceps of Zaccagni, hurt against Cagliari on 1 November. Zaccagni has begun treatment and will be re-examined in the coming days; the club gave no return date. Gazzetta dello Sport writes that the timescale is still to be set and that he could miss games after the international break, while the Lazio news site LaLazioSiamoNoi says first indications point to at least a month, probably including the games against Lecce and Torino after the break.

Forward Albert Gudmundsson, out with a shoulder problem since Iceland duty in September, is not available either. Regular starter Nuno Tavares is a doubt after missing Wednesday's training with fatigue in a flexor muscle, according to Il Messaggero as relayed by LaLazioSiamoNoi. The same report says two players returning from injury have rejoined the group and should be in the squad, though they are unlikely to play much.

Napoli's bad week

Napoli lost 2-0 at Juventus on 1 November, with Luca Marianucci sent off in the 75th minute for a second yellow card, and 4-1 at Porto on Wednesday: their third defeat in four Champions League games and, by Sky Sport Italia's count, their seventh in 14 matches this season. ANSA noted that two of Porto's goals came from near-identical corners and that Napoli were missing ten injured players. Coach Massimiliano Allegri said he had only forwards on the bench when Porto made five changes around the 70th minute, and described the Lazio game as "as if it were a final". He added that some injured players will only return after the break.

Marianucci serves a one-match ban. Captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo and full-back Mathías Olivera, hurt with muscle problems at Juventus, went back to Naples for tests and, PianetAzzurro and TuttoNapoliCalcio report, will miss the Lazio game; the second site puts them out for about two weeks and a month respectively.

What the table says

Napoli have 14 points from 10 games (four wins, two draws, four defeats), 14 fewer than Lazio, who have 28 from nine wins and a draw, with 24 goals scored and eight conceded. Away from home Lazio won 1-0 at Bologna, 2-1 at Udinese, 2-0 at Venezia, 3-0 at Juventus and 6-2 at Sassuolo: 14 goals for, three against. Lazio's Gustav Isaksen and Tijjani Noslin lead the club's scorers with four league goals each. At the Maradona Napoli have taken 7 points from four games: wins over Bologna (1-0) and Frosinone (3-0), a 3-3 draw with Roma and a 2-1 defeat by Como. A Lazio win would take them to 31 points; second-placed Inter, on 25, host Como at 18:00 the same day.