Following a somewhat tedious international break for the national side, domestic action can not return quickly enough.
We begin in Milan where in their last 11 Serie A meetings, Inter and their opponents Parma have won four matches each, with three draws in the other games. The hosts have not been reliable at home recently and have earned only one point in their last three at San Siro (seven goals conceded) – they were unbeaten in the previous eight (W4 D4) conceding only three goals in the process.
What may bode well for the home side is only Chievo (62) have faced more shots than Parma (59) this season so far.
In a mouth-watering encounter, Napoli have won only one of their last five league meetings against Fiorentina (D3 L1) and they have failed to score in the most recent two. The high-flying visitors have won each of their first three top-flight games in a season only twice in their history (1969-70 and 1998-99). Can they continue their excellent start?
Curiously, in the two Serie A meetings between Frosinone and Sampdoria, the home team has won 2-0 in both games. So this could be tough to call. The odds may well be with the home side considering the last time the visitors won an away match in the league against a newly-promoted team was back in March 2014 (2-1 against Sassuolo): since then, they have drawn six and lost six in 12 games.
In what promises to be a fairly one-sided encounter Roma are unbeaten in their last 10 Serie A meetings with Chievo (W7 D3) – the Giallorossi have scored two or more goals in seven of those games. That being said the hosts struggle to keep a lead as among the teams with at least one goal scored, AS Roma (18) and Chievo (19) are the two teams to have been leading for the fewest minutes this season.
Genoa are strong on home soil and have won four of their last six Serie A games at the Marassi (L2), including their first game this season (2-1 vs Empoli). On the flipside of this trend, Bologna are the only team not to have won a league away game (D3 L8) in 2018 (minimum of three away games played).
Over to the champions and with a win, Juventus will have won each of their first four top-flight games in each of the last two seasons – this would be the first time the Bianconeri have achieved this in back to back campaigns. A slim hope for visitors Sassuolo is the ripe form of Kevin-Prince Boateng who has found the net in his last two league games – he has never scored in three games in a row in Serie A?
Both Udinese and Torino have scored in the last four matches in Friuli in Serie A – 20 goals have been scored in those matches. This could be an exciting encounter. Visiting talisman Andrea Belotti has been directly involved in a goal in each of his last five matches against Udinese in Serie A (four goals and an assist). Few would bet against him adding to this.
Surprisingly newly-promoted Empoli have won three of the last four home league games against Lazio, however, they lost the most recent encounter 1-2 in February 2017. Lazio scored the most goals in Serie A last season (89) while Empoli scored the most in Serie B (88).
Unusually goal-shy Ciro Immobile – the joint top scorer in 2018 – has netted only once in the current league season; last season, he scored four times in his first three league games.
Hosts Cagliari have won only eight of total 72 fixtures against AC Milan in Serie A –the Sardinian team have won only one of their last 29 matches against Rossoneri (D6 L22). Gonzalo Higuaín has scored six goals in seven matches against Cagliari in the league and has never ended on the losing side (W5 D2). If this goes to form then he may find himself on the scoresheet.
In the final game of the weekend, unpredictable SPAL haven’t drawn any of their last eight league games (W5 L3) after they had drawn each of their previous six. Each of visiting Atalanta’s last 17 Serie A goals have come in open play.
Hoping to add another will be in-form Musa Barrow who is the second youngest player to have been directly involved in six or more goals in all competitions among players in the top five European leagues in 2018-19, scoring four goals and assisting twice.
