Taarabt, Essien to face Napoli

On Saturday evening Napoli’s digressing form will come up against a Milan side, who are yet to lose since Clarence Seedorf’s takeover and there will be two Africans poised for debut.

Kick-off at the San Paolo will be at 21h45 (CAT).

Both teams will meet in Naples with the rare contrast in form but both are still desperate for a win.

Napoli’s time on the field has seen them fail to win a game in three encounters, while the Rossoneri’s crisis has started to travel on the slightest of calmer streams by coming out with two wins and draw.

Since Seedorf’s induction on the Milan bench, the San Siro outfit have started to show signs of a vision, purpose and a more united front.

Their latest outing, a 1-1 draw to Torino last Saturday, did see them struggle to utilize their chances in front of goal and struggled under the absence of Mario Balotelli.

The volatile striker will, however, be back in time for this encounter and will be hoping to take on a fragile Napoli backline.

Also set to make their presence felt on the field is the African duo of Michael Essiena and Adel Taarabt, who both sat out of the last domestic encounter despite having already joined the club.

And it is the latter who is looking to make a severe impact on Rafael Benitez’s team: "I'm honoured to be here. It's a club of an incredible level. It's been a crazy chance for me and I cannot wait to make my debut in this jersey.

"I'm still very young and they say that I have talent. They have been saying for some years now that I should able to move to a club of a high level.

“I'm very playful and sometimes my attitude has been portrayed in a bad way.
But I will be a friend to all of my team-mates and it's true that when Milan expressed an interest in me, I thought, 'They have the Italian Balotelli but now with me they will have the Moroccan Balotelli!’

“I cannot wait to get to know Mario better and make friends with him.”

Napoli meanwhile haven’t enjoyed the best of stints. Their 3-0 defeat to Atalanta last Sunday exposed every weakness in their books and left the Azzurri looking frazzled by the final whistle.

With their latest run of results seeing them slip to 15 points behind leaders Juventus and six to second placed Roma, things are in need of a turnaround at the club.