US Sassuolo Calcio vs Napoli preview - Rafa seeks confidence-boosting win

Napoli visit Sassuolo on Sunday with coach Rafael Benitez looking for answers after his team's slow start to the campaign.

The Naples outfit have won just one of their opening four Serie A games and are 10th in the standings, eight points adrift of league leaders Juventus and Roma.

Benitez's side looked to be heading for an easy win against Palermo on Wednesday but threw away a 2-0 lead and had to settle for a 3-3 draw.

The outcome in Naples piled further pressure on the Spanish coach heading into the encounter at the Mapei stadium.

"We have yet to find balance in our performances," Benitez said. "We need to recover our confidence and believe in ourselves.

"In order to come out of this situation, we have to work in peace.

"Sunday's game at Sassuolo is a very delicate game for us, the most difficult so far."

Napoli suffered a blow last month when losing a play-off tie to Athletic Bilbao to miss out on Champions League football.

"If you don't start well then you face an uphill battle," Benitez said. "There was so much expectation and to have been eliminated from the Champions League left my players feeling more nervous.

"We must get back on track."

Benitez will field attacking pair Gonzalo Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne from the start.

Both players came off the bench against Palermo but could not help their side to victory.

Sassuolo, meanwhile, have yet to win a game.

The Emilia-Romagna club kept a clean sheet for a second straight game when they held Fiorentina to a goalless draw on Wednesday.

The outcome kept Sassuolo in 18th place, with three points from four games.

Eusebio Di Francesco's men have found the back of the net just once, while they have given away eight goals so far.

The hosts will be without injured defender Thomas Manfredini as well as striker Domenico Berardi, who is suspended.