With Easter, the Serie A winners and a relegation place sorted, there is still much to finalise in the next few weeks. We begin with two sides that still have plenty to play for.
Bologna will be keen to end well having had a largely disappointing campaign but they have lost four of their last six encounters against opponents Empoli in Serie A (D2), after a seven game unbeaten run in the competition against them (W3 D4).
Hoping to sustain their top-flight status are Empoli have won only one of their six previous away encounters vs Bologna in the top-flight (D2 L3); 3-2 back in December 2015.
Over in the capital, AS Roma are unbeaten in their last nine Serie A encounters against Cagliari (W6 D3); Cagliari last won against the Giallorossi back in February 2013, 4-2 away from home in Zden?k Zeman’s last game as Roma manager.
The visitors are winless in their last 10 games away from home in this region (two draws and eight defeats vs Frosinone, Lazio and AS Roma), conceding 2.1 goals on average in this run.
When the season began, many were hoping this could be a significant title encounter but it has a lot more riding on it in terms of securing Champions League qualification for the hosts than the newly crowned visitors.
Inter have scored two goals in their last two Serie A home games against Juventus: the last time they scored 2+ goals in three successive such encounters against them was back in 1954.
For a team so relentlessly consistent domestically, in 185 league games with Juventus, Massimiliano Allegri has surprisingly named 180 different starting XIs. With the league secured and nothing really to play for we can probably expect the 181st.
Ailing Frosinone have only won one of their last 20 Serie A home games (D6 L13), failing to score in 12 of those matches. Home form is usually the cornerstone of successful sides, so it’s no surprise the hosts are where they are.
The last think they need will be Napoli striker Dries Mertens who has been directly involved in 22 goals in the top division this season (12 goals, 10 assists), just four fewer than the goals scored by Frosinone in the current campaign (26).
Already relegated Chievo have won two top-division games this season: no team has won fewer games after 33 match days in the history of the competition.
Despite never really looking threatened by relegation, Parma are the only team to have faced more than 600 shots in Serie A this season (658); in the last 15 Serie A campaigns only three sides have faced more than 700: Messina in 2006-07, Frosinone in 2015-16 and Verona in 2017/18 – each of them were relegated at the end of the season. This could be a worrying trend going into next season.
In their last nine Serie A matches against SPAL, Genoa have only scored three goals (never more than once in a single match).
The new manager bounce has clearly deserted the visitors as only Chievo and Fiorentina (four each) have collected fewer points than Genoa (five) in the last eight matchups.
Clearly there is something negative in the whole region as city-rivals Sampdoria have also badly lost form and have lost seven games in Serie A since February, only Chievo and Frosinone (eight each) have had more defeats in the same period.
Hoping to add to his impressive return against the hosts is Lazio striker Ciro Immobile who has scored seven goals in 10 Serie A meetings against Sampdoria; against no other side has he scored more in the competition. However, he has failed to find the net in each of his last three games at the Ferraris against the Blucerchiati.
Turin appears to have lot more positivity as a city than Genoa right now where only neighbours Juventus (19) have won more Serie A points in home games than Torino (16) in the second half of the current season.
Visitors AC Milan may be in a poorly timed run in defence and have conceded nine goals in their last seven league games, as many as they had conceded in their previous 17.
Despite spending the majority of their time at opposite ends of the league, only once before have Atalanta won three Serie A games in a row against Udinese (between 1952 and 1953) – they have won each of their last two such games against them.
The visitors do not travel well and last won away from home in back in September (D4, L9); they haven’t found the net in seven of their last 10 league matches on the road.
Hoping that current head to head results will continue are Fiorentina who have won each of their last three home games against Sassuolo, scoring at least two goals per game.
Randomly, Sassuolo have only won one of their nine Serie A games played on a Monday – in February 2016 against Lazio (D3 L5).
