While Napoli return to a three-man defence against Milan, the plan is to give Kvicha Kvaratskhelia a new role to make his dribbling less predictable.
It kicks off at San Siro on Sunday at 19.45 GMT.
Victor Osimhen is still at the Africa Cup of Nations, where Nigeria face the Ivory Coast for the trophy this weekend, with Mario Rui suspended.
Piotr Zielinski, Mathias Olivera and Matteo Politano are not at 100 per cent and it remains to be seen if they will start, which is part of the reason why Walter Mazzarri is leaning towards a three-man defence.
The big shift could be moving Kvaratskhelia to a more central role behind striker Giovanni Simeone.
It is no secret that the Georgia international was a sensation in his debut Serie A season, but had already started to fall away by March 2023 when opposition defenders had figured him out.
Despite being two-footed, the vast majority of his moves involve cutting inside from the left to shoot with his right foot, and this makes him very predictable.
Mazzarri is trying to find new ways to use Kvaratskhelia and his skillset to begin surprising the opponents once more and this new more central role could achieve that.
It is hoped that by giving him greater freedom to dribble directly at defenders, using either foot so cutting inside towards the left or the right, can wreak havoc.
Napoli, con il Milan certezza difesa a 3: i dubbi sono a centrocampo. E #Kvaratskhelia…#SkySport#Napolihttps://t.co/JbE18HM4he
— skysport (@SkySport) February 9, 2024
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