After this weekend there will only have 12 weeks left to achieve ambitions and shape destinies. As we hit the two third point of the campaign there are some enticing features but one or two season defining encounters to look forward to.
We begin at the wrong end of the table where the last time hosts Cagliari picked up 24 or fewer points after MD25 was back in 2014/15 (20 points) – they were relegated in Serie B at the end of that season.
Hopefully for the hosts, visitors Inter have won only two of their last eight away Serie A games (D3 L3); the Nerazzurri had won four of their previous five.
Another struggling side Empoli have won only one of their last 10 Serie A games (D2 L7), having won three of their previous four before this run.
Among teams they’ve faced at least seven times in the top-flight, only against Bari (70%) do Parma have a better win ratio than against Empoli (65%).
Looking towards the top end of the table, AC Milan have found the net in 10 of 11 league games against Sassuolo, scoring 22 goals (2 on average for match).
Visiting Sassuolo are in rotten form and have won only three of their last 19 Serie A games (D9 L7) – in the first six matches of the current league season, they won four.
Over to the capital for one of the stand out fixtures where Lazio (30) and Roma (26) are on the longest runs of any current Serie A team without a goalless draw. Surely we can expect goals in this encounter.
Eyes will be on the potential goal scorers and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile has bagged three in his last five league matches against Roma – however he has lost all three of those games.
Opposing talisman Edin Dzeko is in decent form and has netted five in his last five Serie A games, as many as he scored in the previous 25.
With a clean sheet, Torino would equal their longest top division streak of successive games without conceding a single goal (six), recorded between the 1984/85 and the 1985/86 campaigns.
Hoping to spoil the party are Chievo who have failed to score in their last three Serie A games and could record four in a row without a single goal for the first time since May 2016.
Genoa are quietly turning their season around and are unbeaten in their last five league fixtures (W2 D3), last recording a longer such run in December 2014 (nine).
Frosinone have lost 15 games after 25 Serie A games: only 13% of teams with so many defeats at this stage of the competitions have avoided the relegation at the end of the season (11/82).
SPAL and Sampdoria have drawn only one of their last 11 league fixtures (both five wins) – in the previous five they drew five times.
The last time Sampdoria conceded a goal in 10 consecutive away Serie A games was back in January 2017; they’ve conceded in the last nine (22 goals conceded).
Udinese and Bologna haven’t drawn a single encounter in the top division since September 2013 – five wins for Udinese and three for Bologna since then.
Both sides have the lowest shot conversion rate in Serie A this season – 6.2% for the Rossoblu and 6.3% for the Friulani.
Hosts Atalanta have lost their last two games in the league after having been unbeaten in their previous six (W4 D2): the last time lost three matches in a row was back in January 2016.
No chance of a home-banker in this match-up as Fiorentina are unbeaten in their last nine away matches in the top-flight (W3 D6); the last time they had a better run away from home in the competition was back in October 1982 (13 games).
Finally to a little kick about in Naples. This match may well decide if there is to remain any fleeting chance of a title challenge. Home side Napoli are unbeaten in 18 home Serie A games since March 2018 (W14 D4) – they last went 19 unbeaten at San Paolo back in September 2016 (22 in that case).
As impressive as Napoli’s home record is Juventus have an even better domestic away record, the champions could break their record of 25 unbeaten away Serie A games if they avoid defeat against Napoli – their current 25-game run is level with their run between September 2011 and November 2012.
