Serie A Week 24 – Preview (Powered by @matthewdoyle95)
Bologna vs Fiorentina:
Fiorentina head to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Saturday evening in search of three points against Bologna. Fiorentina have surprised everyone this season by sitting in 3rd place and while a Scudetto challenge looks unlikely, a champions league place is very possible. A man responsible for Fiorentina’s such high standing in the league table is Josip Ilicic, the Slovenian has scored 10 Serie A goals this season as well as having 5 assists and he will be a player Bologna have to watch. Bologna themselves are having a very good season and sit in 10th place after being promoted last season. Bologna are capable of causing upsets at home and they showed this by beating first place Napoli 3-2 in December. A win for Fiorentina would show their Champions League spot rivals that they mean business, while three points for Bologna will all but ensure their safety from the drop to Serie B.
Verona vs Inter Milan:
Inter Milan will hope Wednesdays win against Chievo will kick-start their campaign in Serie A as they face Wednesdays opponents bitter rivals Hellas Verona. The victory against Chievo just a few days ago ended a horrible run of six games without a win in all competitions which all but ended title hopes. Inter Milan will also be hoping that Wednesdays solitary goalscorer Mauro Icardi can rediscover his form again after the Argentine went almost a month without scoring before Wednesday. A lot like Inter, Verona will be hoping that a victory will kick-start their season. The bottom placed side secured a first victory of the season against Atalanta on Wednesday night to give them hopes of an unlikely escape from relegation. Hellas still trail 17th place by 10 points so will hope to get something from Sundays early game.
Milan vs Udinese:
Unlike bitter rivals Inter, AC Milan have been in very good form recently and will be looking to continue that good form at home against Udinese. Milan have gone 7 games unbeaten in all competitions and look to have one foot in the Coppa Italia final after beating third tier side Alessandria 1-0 away from home. A big plus in Milan’s season and recent form is Colombian Carlos Bacca, the striker who was signed from Sevilla in the summer in a £21 million deal has 14 goals in all competitions this season and he will be looking to add more in Sundays game against Udinese. Udinese have been in awful form the last few weeks with the Zebrette not winning in 5 league games, perhaps the most worrying stat in those five league games is that the club only scored 3 goals. They can no longer rely on Antonio Di Natale who used to be so prolific but is 38 now and not able to have as much of an influence on games. Udinese look to have it all to do on Sunday against this in form Milan side.
Roma vs Sampdoria:
Roma will be hoping to make it 3 on the bounce when they host Sampdoria on Sunday night. The Rome based club sit in 5th in the Serie A table and despite many people calling it a disappointing campaign so far this term Roma are only four points from the coveted Champions League spot. Since Luciano Spalletti has taken over from Rudi Garcia at Stadio Olimpico he has recorded two wins, one draw and one loss. The two wins however have come most recently and Roma will be made favourites for this game. Sampdoria are sitting in 17th this campaign and are nervously looking over their shoulder as teams below them are starting to pick up points. Sampdoria have not won in their last 5 Serie A games, but this Sampdoria side do have goals in their locker and could cause a potential upset in Rome if Roma are not careful.
Other Serie A fixtures:
Genoa vs Lazio (sat)
Sassuolo vs Palermo
Napoli vs Carpi
Frosinone vs Juventus
Torino vs Chievo
Atalanta vs Empoli