Napoli vs Udinese preview - Di Natale absent for Udinese

Posted Sunday, April 17, 2011 by PA

Udinese must overcome the absence of Serie A's leading scorer Antonio Di Natale when they go up against second-place Napoli.

Di Natale, who is the Udinese captain, has a right ankle injury while Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin will also be without the services of Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez, who is out with a thigh problem.

Di Natale's absence will hand Napoli striker Edinson Cavani a chance to overtake him in the league scoring charts.

Cavani, who has 25 goals on the campaign, one less than Di Natale, will return to the team after serving a suspension.

Napoli go into the encounter on the back of four straight wins and looking to keep up the pressure on Serie A leaders AC Milan.

Walter Mazzarri's side trails three points behind Milan with six games remaining.

"We have done so much already and we just hope not throw away all the good work in our last six games," Mazzarri said.

"No-one expect us to be in this position at this stage of the campaign but we are just focusing on ourselves.

"With respect to AC Milan and Inter, we have a more challenging rival this weekend because Udinese, even without Di Natale and Sanchez, are a great side."

Udinese, meanwhile, have suffered a drop in form, losing their last two league games.

Last weekend's 2-1 defeat to Roma allowed Lazio to climb above them and into fourth place.

Udinese trail one point behind Lazio, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis expects a thrilling game at a sold out San Paolo stadium.

"Udinese are a very strong team," he said. "They play great football.

"It will be a beautiful game, between two teams that have big aspirations."