Two more goals and they will bring up their century for the calendar year.
Napoli may look back on 2016 rather wistfully, remembering the tantalising chase for the scudetto that put them within touching distance, right into February, of a prize that they have not claimed for a quarter of century.
But they can also look back on a glut of goals that makes them currently their division’s most potent force.
Napoli play at Fiorentina on Thursday with 10 from their last two Serie A outings, part of a portfolio that over the past 12 months has produced five blitzes of the opposition that featured five Napoli goals or more.
Take three points away from Florence and they could finish the year in second place in the table, though they would still trail champions Juventus by seven points.
Juventus’ Italian Super Cup date in Doha on Thursday means they have a league fixture in hand.
One point Napoli have made to the leaders fairly forcefully is that losing the services of Italian football’s most prolific striker of last season, Gonzalo Higuain, in lieu for a vast payment from Juve has not damaged their firepower as much as some Neapolitans had feared, and perhaps Juve had hoped.
“In the last six months, we have lost Higuain, and then Arkaduisz Milik (bought in as Higuain’s replacement) to injury.
“But we have found solutions to that,” Maurizio Sarri, the Napoli manager, observed after Sunday’s 5-3 extravaganza against Torino.
The most obvious solution, lately, has been Dries Mertens.
The Belgian international is now in his fourth season at Napoli and is making an overwhelming case that he can be much more than a useful impact substitute, a role he has filled more often that he is truly comfortable with. Mertens followed up his hat-trick against Cagliari 11 days ago, with even better against Torino.
The first three goals he put past Joe Hart, the Torino goalkeeper, arrived in the space of nine minutes, a smooth volley to meet a cross.
A penalty sending Hart the wrong way, and a determined prod with his right foot after his initial shot had been blocked.
Later, the flourish — a fourth goal with a delicious chip while on the run and from a testing angle, over Hart’s head.
Mertens is a diminutive 1.69-metre tall, with a low centre of gravity.
And, as Napoli fans have noted, he has the initials DM — the same as the club’s most celebrated star in history, Diego Maradona.
Hence the headlines in Monday’s Italian papers. One dubbed him ‘Maramertens’. “Diego Armando Mertens,” the Corriere dello Sport proclaimed.
Mertens, 29, will not be distracted by that comparison. “Never mind Maradona,” he said, “the main thing is the next game”.
And perhaps another significant landmark.
Mertens has 10 goals in Serie A for the season, which is the same number Higuain has scored in the league for Juventus since moving north for €90 million (Dh330.5m).
“He is making a real difference for us,” Sarri said of the Belgian, “and he is realising his full potential after he lacked a bit of consistency. Apart from the goals, he is a great provider from wide positions.”
The manager has an eye on more of Mertens’s service from the wing in the new year.
It is when Leonardo Pavoletti — a centre-forward — should complete his anticipated transfer from Genoa, and for when Milik becomes available again following the cruciate ligament injury he sustained in October.
Sarri is targeting a February return for the Polish striker, and he hopes to have him match-fit for the Uefa Champions League last-16 tie against Real Madrid.
If Napoli can maintain their current momentum — unbeaten in Italy and in Europe in 10 games since losing to Juve in October — ahead of that much-anticipated collision, then Madrid should beware.
So should Juventus.
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