Conte facing 'absurd' injury crisis

NAPOLI are on the brink of being eliminated from the Uefa Champions League as the troubled Italian club face Chelsea tonight racked by a deep injury crisis and a faltering Serie A title defence.

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Sat just inside the elimination zone on only eight points from seven matches after last week's miserable 1-1 draw at FC Copenhagen, Napoli must beat Chelsea to scrape a place in next month's playoffs.

That will be no easy task with the Blues Antonio Conte's former club needing a win to stay in the top eight and bag direct qualification for the last 16.

Napoli come into the game still stinging from a 3-0 defeat at Juventus which left the Italian champions nine points behind current Serie A leaders Inter Milan.

Sunday's loss in Turin was a big slap in the face for Napoli and Juve icon Conte, who was full of praise for his players who have had to dig deep in the face of a host of injuries.

"Before (Sunday), the last match we'd lost was against Udinese (last month). We even won the Italian Super Cup in an emergency, an emergency which has got even worse," Conte said.