Napoli vs Novara preview - Inler urges improvement

Napoli midfielder Gokhan Inler has urged his team-mates to put their poor form behind them ahead of the game against struggling Novara.

The Naples outfit lost 3-1 to Atalanta last time out, their third consecutive defeat.

The outcome dropped Napoli to sixth place and left them six points behind Lazio, who are third and hold the last Champions League qualifying spot.

"On Saturday we will give our all," Inler said. "We need to cancel out our recent results and start again.

"We have worked very hard this week and spoken about the reasons behind our poor form.

"We can still bounce back but we just have to think about ourselves. We have six finals left to play in order to have a chance to finish third.

"The Champions League is the dream of any player."

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri welcomes back defenders Miguel Angel Britos and Paolo Cannavaro as well as midfielder Juan Zuniga from suspension for Saturday's game at the San Paolo stadium.

However, Goran Pandev must serve his first of a two-match ban this weekend while fellow forward Ezequiel Lavezzi is out with a muscular injury.

Napoli can expect a battle, with Novara in desperate need of victory to have any hopes of avoiding the drop this season.

Attilio Tesser's side head into this weekend's encounter on the back of a 2-0 loss at Parma.

That result left Novara second from bottom, 11 points behind safety with six games left to play.

"We must find solidity in defence if we wish to start taking positive results," Tesser said.

Novara have the second worst back line in the competition, better only than Genoa, with 54 goals conceded in 32 games.

The visitors will be without midfielder Francesco Marianini, who is out for the rest of the season with a left thigh injury, while Argentina defender Santiago Garcia is suspended.