Napoli are fortunate to have Antonio Conte as their head coach, according to the club's head of first-team management, Lele Oriali.

The Serie A holders are currently third in the standings after AC Milan's win over Cagliari on Friday, though they could move within one point of the Rossoneri when they face Lazio on Sunday.

However, Conte will have to do something he has never done before if Napoli are to leave with all three points.

Conte has lost both of his Serie A clashes against Maurizio Sarri, with both defeats coming in the 2019-20 season (2-1 at home, 2-0 away) when the two managers were in charge of Inter and Juventus respectively.

The current Lazio boss is the only manager against whom Conte has always lost in Europe's big five leagues, when facing them at least twice.

Sarri could also become the third manager to beat Conte three times within Europe's big five leagues, after Pep Guardiola and Massimiliano Allegri.

Conte has dealt with many injuries to key players this season amid a busier schedule that includes Champions League football, and Oriali praised the coach's resilience.

"We're fortunate to have our leader, Antonio Conte, who doesn't give up in the face of difficulties," he told Radio Crc.

"And the team has followed him: we've faced serious problems, managing, through his insights and ideas, to find the right balance.

"I think this demonstrates the group's unity and the team spirit that has been created in the face of difficulties: the team has come together even more, managing to overcome these injuries."

Sarri's Lazio occupy ninth place in the Serie A table, with the Biancocelesti unbeaten in their last four league games (W1 D3).

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Lazio – Gustav Isaksen

Isaksen has scored two goals against Napoli in Serie A (both in his last two games against them), his joint-best return against a single opponent in the competition (also two against Bologna).

Despite only playing 11 games in the current campaign, the Dane has the most shots on target for Lazio in Serie A (nine).

Napoli – Rasmus Hojlund

Hojlund has scored nine goals in 20 appearances for Napoli across all competitions in 2025-26.

The Manchester United loanee could reach double figures for the season in the fewest appearances since he began playing in Europe's five big leagues (his previous best for 10 seasonal goals was 28 appearances in 2023-24 for Man Utd).

Hojlund has also scored the most Serie A goals since the start of December, with five goals in seven appearances for Napoli; these five goals have come from just 10 shots on target.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

Lazio and Napoli have drawn their last two Serie A matches at the Stadio Olimpico. This comes after a run of 10 consecutive encounters where a draw was not recorded (two Lazio wins, eight Napoli wins).

The Biancocelesti have drawn three of their last four Serie A games (W1), including their two most recent games; the last time they recorded at least three consecutive draws in the competition was between November and December 2018 (four in a row under Simone Inzaghi).

Lazio are unbeaten in their last five Serie A matches against Napoli (W3 D2), having lost 10 of the previous 12 encounters (W2). The last time they recorded a longer unbeaten run against Napoli in the competition was in 1965 (13 games).

However, Napoli have won their last three games in all competitions without conceding a goal, and could record four consecutive wins and four successive clean sheets for the first time this season.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Lazio – 29.1%

Draw – 29.5%

Napoli – 41.4%