Crotone aim for their first top flight victory over Cagliari at the fifth attempt when they travel to Sardinia on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 12:30).
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Cagliari (4-2-3-1): Cragno; Zappa, Walukiewicz, Godin, Lykogiannis; Marin, Rog; Nandez, Joao Pedro, Sottil; Simeone.
Unavailable: Ceppitelli, Pereiro, Pinna.
Crotone (3-5-2): Cordaz; Magallan, Marrone, Luperto; Pereira, Molina, Cigarini, Vulic, Reca; Messias, Simy.
Unavailable: Dragus, Gigliotti, Zanellato.
KEY STATISTICS
– Cagliari are unbeaten against Crotone in Serie A, thanks to three wins followed by a 1-1 draw in January 2018.
– The last time Cagliari won against a newly promoted team in Serie A was back in April 2019 (1-0 v Frosinone) – since then four draws and two defeats for the Sardinians.
– Cagliari are looking to avoid not scoring in both their first two home Serie A games in a season for the first time since 1995/96, under Giovanni Trapattoni.
– Crotone could gain more than one point in their first five league matches of a season for the first time in their Serie A history.
– Only Benevento (12) have conceded more goals in the current Serie A campaign than Crotone (11) and Cagliari (10).
– Cagliari have conceded 20.8 shots on average in Serie A 2020/21, more than any other team in the top five European leagues.
– Cagliari’s coach Eusebio Di Francesco could win two consecutive Serie A matches for the first time since February 2019 – he’s never done so with Sampdoria or Cagliari.
– Cagliari’s Joao Pedro has scored three goals in his last three Serie A matches against newly promoted sides. Joao Pedro (44 goals) is close to equalling Luis Oliveira (45) as the second highest scorer in Cagliari’s Serie A history (behind Luigi Riva, 156).
– Giovanni Simeone is one of the two players, with Mattia Destro, to have scored against Crotone with two different teams in Serie A (Genoa and Fiorentina) – he could become the only one to score against them with three different clubs.
– Simy (12 goals) is close to equaling Diego Falcinelli (13) as the top scorer in Crotone’s history in Serie A.
