Things are getting pretty serious now in Serie A after Juventus saw their lead at the summit trimmed further to just one point. Can they be overhauled by Napoli this weekend?
We begin in the capital where Chievo’s last win against Roma in the league was in May 2013 – since then the Giallorossi have racked up six wins and three draws against them. The home side have won each of their last four on their own turf against Chievo in the top-flight, conceding only one goal in the process.
The champions could have done with an easier fixture than an away game at Inter. Whilst a potentially a tricky encounter, the home side have won only one of their last 10 Serie A games against Juventus, losing on five occasions. Stadio San Siro has become a fortress this season and Inter’s last home defeat in this campaign was back in December against Udinese – since then, the Nerazzurri have collected four draws and four wins.
A major concern for the visitors is the form of their brightest star. Despite playing 133 minutes over his last two league appearances, Paulo Dybala didn’t attempt a single shot, and made only four touches in the opposition box.
Looking at the bottom end of the table, Including their meetings in Serie B, Crotone have alternated a win to a draw in their last four home games against Sassuolo. The visitors have now equalled their longest unbeaten run in a single top-flight campaign – eight games in December 2014 (W3 D5) so may start as favourites.
Over in Bergamo, considering only the second half of the season, Atalanta would sit 4th in the table on 28 points, only behind Juventus, Napoli and AC Milan. Genoa may not alter this trend given that they have lost three of their last four away games in Serie A (D1), failing to score in three of those matches.
Not many would have predicted this in the summer, only two sides have suffered longer losing streaks than Udinese in Serie A history in the same campaign: Brescia (15, in 1994/95) and home side Benevento (14, at the start of this campaign).
Only Crotone (12) have conceded more goals via corners than the visitors Udinese (11) in this Serie A campaign so far. Maybe time to send the keeper up for some corners!
Bologna have won only one of their last 16 league games against AC Milan (D4 L11). Their home form is better however, they have won four of the last seven on their own turf. Despite an initial spike in form under Gennaro Gattuso, AC Milan have plateaued lately and are winless in their last six Serie A matches (D4 L2), also they’ve not scored more than a single goal in the process.
A huge relegation six-pointer now, Verona’s last draw in this campaign came in the reverse fixture against SPAL – since then they’ve won five times and lost 13. The visitors may wish to seek out Alberto Paloschi, he has bagged three goals in his last four games against Verona.
Now we move to the blue half of Genoa, This will be the 64th meeting between Sampdoria and Cagliari in Serie A; the Sardinians have 23 wins to Samp’s 11, with 29 draws. The hosts have kept consecutive clean sheets in their last two home encounters. The last time they recorded three in a row on home soil was back in April 2015.
On the flip-side, Cagliari have lost their last three away games in a row, failing to score in both of the last two.
Fiorentina’s last win against Napoli at the Franchi was in January 2009 – since then, they have managed only four draws and four losses on home soil against the Partenopei.
Five of Napoli’s last nine goals in the league have been scored from corners. In fact, they have scored the most goals from corners so far in this campaign (13). Maybe someone should have told Juventus!
Our final matchup takes us to Turin where hosts Torino last did a Serie A double over Lazio in 1973/74. The visitors have already won 11 away games in this campaign – an all-time record for the Biancocelesti. They had never won more than nine on the road in a single season prior to 2017-2018.
For the home side, Adem Ljajic has scored five goals against Lazio, his favourite target. The Serbian has had a hand in four of Torino’s last five goals in the league, scoring two and also providing two assists.
