Antonio Conte said that Napoli's Coppa Italia last 16 tie against Lazio would be used to give some of his fringe players the opportunity to shine for the Serie A leaders.

Napoli maintained their advantage at the summit of the standings with a 1-0 win over Torino on Sunday, with Scott McTominay on target for Gli Azzurri. 

Conte's side are not participating in Europe this season after finishing 10th in Serie A last term, providing a slight advantage in terms of their Scudetto ambitions this year.

However, having fewer games has limited some of Napoli's squad to minor minutes from the bench, but Conte has used the competition so far to rest his key players. 

Napoli have already featured in two rounds of the cup so far, brushing aside Serie B sides Modena and Palermo. 

"This year in some respects it is penalising for many players because we only have the league, and we have the Coppa Italia," Conte told reporters. 

"We played two games, the season opener with Modena, then with Palermo there was the possibility to give space to the players who had less time until then, and tomorrow we'll have another clear opportunity to test everyone's growth a bit."

Lazio have also started well in Serie A this term, sitting in fifth after 14 games of their season and only four points behind Conte's side in the division. 

They are also unbeaten in their last three games against Napoli (W2 D1), and Conte was well aware of the task awaiting his players if they are to reach the quarter-finals.

"We always look at game-by-game, so the most important is Thursday's," he added.

"Having said that, I'll make choices because there are many players in the squad. We had a good start but it must not only be thanks to the 12-13 who took part.

"The credit must be shared with the entire squad, those who took over and those who played little or nothing but kept the intensity and competition high in training."

Conte also took the time to respond to Inter president, Giuseppe Marotta, who said that Napoli are favourites to win Serie A this season. 

"The director can say what he wants," Conte said.

"But I think that at the end of the year if Inter were not to win the Scudetto he would not be very happy and would not consider the season a good season.

"They are focusing a lot on us and perhaps do not see who can really be the one who bothers them."