With only four weeks of the current Serie A campaign left, many sides are jostling for a strong finish and one or two still have so much to play for at both ends of the league.
At the summit, Juventus have lost only one of their last 25 derbies against Torino (W19 D5) – 2-1 for the Granata in April 2015, with goals from Darmian and Quagliarella.
Torino have in-form Andrea Belotti to call upon, he has scored six of his 13 goals in Serie A from March onwards – no player has scored more than the Granata’s striker in this period.
From the very top to the very bottom, none of the current Chievo players has ever scored against SPAL in the top-flight. Perhaps the hosts can look Riccardo Meggiorini, who scored in the last game against Parma.
Opponents SPAL have scored the most goals from set piece situations in the league this season (46% – 16 out of 35), while no team have conceded more than Chievo from these situations (18).
Keen to secure their top-flight status are Udinese who are unbeaten at home in their last six games (W4 D2), last going seven in a row back in October 2014.
Visiting Inter’s last five away games have seen an average of 4.4 goals per match, after the previous five had an average of just 1.2 per match.
Struggling Empoli have won two of their last four Serie A meetings against Fiorentina (L2), as many as they had in the previous 17.
A positive omen for Fiorentina is that they have scored at least two goals in 11 of their last 15 games against Empoli (10 wins in the process).
In the capital, the last time Lazio lost two successive home games was back in May 2015. Following defeat to Chievo, the hosts will be keen to get back to winning ways.
Both sides are cementing their consistency again. In each of the last three campaigns, Lazio and Atalanta have collected more than 113 combined points after 34 MDs; they had never previously managed to do that in a single Serie A season (assuming three points for a win).
After winning four successive Serie A meetings against Sampdoria between 2010 and 2012, Parma have won only one of their following six top-flight games against them (D2 L3).
Out of form Sampdoria have conceded at least two goals in 11 of their last 13 top division away games, without a single clean sheet in the process. They have conceded more away goals (31) than any other team this season’s competition.
Steady Sassuolo are unbeaten in their last five league games (W2, D3), their longest such run under Roberto De Zerbi; the last time the Neroverdi were unbeaten in at least six Serie A games in a row was back in April 2018 (eight).
The end may well be nigh for the visitors. If Frosinone lose against Sassuolo, they will be relegated to Serie B for the second time, after doing so in 2015/16.
Genoa have only scored 11 league goals in 2019, the joint-fewest in the league (alongside Chievo); they have failed to score in eight of their 15 games played this year.
Boasting an opposite run of form are opponents AS Roma who have kept three clean sheets in their last four league games, as many as they had in their previous 24.
Second placed Napoli are unbeaten in their last 17 Serie A games against Cagliari (W12 D5) and have won each of the last six.
Despite their respectable league position, no team have scored less away goals than Cagliari in the top division this season (11, also Chievo); the Rossoblu have not scored in six of their last eight away games.
Champions League chasing AC Milan hit a poor run at the worst time; they have earned only five points in their last seven Serie A games: only Fiorentina (three) and Parma (four) have gained fewer points than the Rossoneri in this period.
At the opposite end of the form table are Bologna have won more games than any other team in the last eight Serie A matchdays (six) and have scored the most goals (17, alongside Napoli). Siniša Mihajlovi? would love to get one over on one of his previous employers.
