After a relatively quiet but still noteworthy matchday, Serie A will have a few bangers in Round 16. It will be a proper super Saturday, with the top five teams all on the pitch. Roma will host Inter and Napoli will battle with Atalanta. Milan will start things off versus Salernitana.
With the biggest clubs locking horns in the early games, the rest of the slate is more ordinary. Sunday’s lunch match will be an intriguing acid test for both Bologna and Fiorentina, which have the same points as Juventus. After the strong results against powehouses, Sassuolo will look to carry over their form in easier tilts as they visit Spezia. Venezia could not keep up with title contenders in the previous two fixtures and will look to get back on track versus Verona, which have relented a little.
Lazio have won just once in the past five games and collected one point in the last three: they will seek to bounce back against Sampdoria, which are in decent shape despite losing to Fiorentina midweek. Juventus will attempt to keep the good things going versus another low-table team as they will face the depleted Genoa, which have not turned things around after the coaching change. On Monday, Empoli will square off against Udinese to extend their positive momentum, while Cagliari, after three straight ties, will search for a much-needed win versus Torino, which have struggled away, also due to the degree of difficulty of matches.
As far as the injuries are concerned, Napoli lost another linchpin as Kalidou Koulibaly is out for a month with a thighs train. Lorenzo Insigne and Fabian Ruiz are in doubt. Simon Kjaer will miss the rest of the season due to a major knee injury. Eight players are suspended, including Tammy Abraham, Nahuel Molina and Wilfred Singo.
MILAN-SALERNITANA
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Florenzi, Tomori, Romagnoli, Theo Hernandez; Kessié, Bakayoko; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Pellegri
Ruled Out: Giroud, Rebic, Castillejo (thigh strains), Kjaer (knee injury), Calabria (calf strain).
Salernitana (4-3-1-2): Belec; Veseli, Gyomber, Bogdan; Zortea, L.Coulibaly, Di Tacchio, Schiavone, Ranieri; Ribery; Simy.
Ruled Out: M.Coulibaly, Ruggeri (thigh strains), Gondo (thigh injury), Strandberg (muscle fatigue), Gagiolo (illness).
ROMA-INTER
Roma (3-5-2): Rui Patricio; Kumbulla, Mancini, Smalling; Ibanez, Cristante, Diawara, Veretout, Vina; Zaniolo; Shomurodov.
Ruled Out: Pellegrini (thigh strain), El Shaarawy (calf strain), Spinazzola (Achilles tendon tear), Afena-Gyan (COVID).
Suspensions: Abraham, Karsdorp.
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, Bastoni, D’Ambrosio; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Dzeko, Correa.
Ruled Out: Darmian, Ranocchia, Kolarov (thigh injuries), Eriksen (heart issues), De Vrij (thigh injury).
NAPOLI-ATALANTA
Napoli (3-5-2): Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus; Malcuit, Zielinski, Lobotka, Elmas, Mario Rui; Lozano, Mertnes.
Ruled Out: Koulibaly (thigh strain), Osimhen (facial fracture), Anguissa (thigh strain), Manolas (illness), Fabian Ruiz (hip soreness), Insigne (calf contracture).
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso; Toloi, Demiral, Palomino; Zappacosta, De Roon, Freuler, Maehle; Malinovskyi, Pessina; Zapata.
Ruled Out: Gosens, Lovato (thigh strain).
BOLOGNA-FIORENTINA
Bologna (3-4-2-1): Skorupski; Soumaoro, Medel, Theate; De Silvestri, Dominguez, Svanberg, Dijks; Soriano, Sansone; Barrow.
Probable: Bonifazi (ankle sprain).
Ruled Out: Arnautovic, Schouten (thigh injuries), Kingsley (fibula fracture), Mbaye (thigh injury).
Fiorentina (4-3-3): Terracciano; Odriozola, Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Torreira, Maleh; Sottil, Vlahovic, Gonzalez.
Ruled Out: Nastasic (calf strain), Castrovilli (muscle fatigue), Pulgar (ankle sprain), Dragowski (thigh strain).
SPEZIA-SASSUOLO
Spezia (4-3-3): Provedel; Amian, Erlic, Nikolaou, Reca; Maggiore, Sala, Kovalenko; Gyasi, Nzola, Manaj.
Ruled Out: Sena (failed physical), Antiste, Salcedo, Podgoreanu.
Sassuolo (4-3-3): Consigli; Muldur, Ayhan, Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos; Frattesi, Maxime Lopez, Matheus Henrique; Berardi, Scamacca, Defrel.
Ruled Out: Djuricic (thigh injury), Obiang (pneumonia), Romagna (patellar tendon tear), Schiappacasse (ACL tear), Goldaniga.
VENEZIA-VERONA
Venezia (4-3-3): Romero; Mazzocchi, Caldara, Ceccaroni, Molinaro; Crnigoj, Vacca, Kiyine; Aramu, Henry, Okereke.
Ruled Out: Fiordilino (sports hernia), Sigurdsson (knee sprain), Maenpaa (back pain).
Suspensions: Ampadu.
Verona (3-4-2-1): Montipò; Dawidowicz, Ceccherini, Casale; Faraoni, Tameze, Veloso, Lazovic; Ilic, Caprari; Simeone.
Ruled Out: Barak (illness), Kalinic, Gunter (calf strains), Frabotta (Achilles tendon partial tear), Hongla (COVID).
SAMPDORIA-LAZIO
Sampdoria (4-4-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Chabot, Augello; Candreva, Thorsby, Ekdal, Verre; Gabbiadini, Quagliarella.
Ruled Out: Damsgaard (thigh strain), Ihattaren (personal), Vieira (foot fracture), Torregrossa (calf injury).
Suspensions: Colley.
Lazio (4-3-3): Strakosha; Hysaj, Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Marusic; Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Basic; Pedro, Immobile, Zaccagni.
Ruled Out: Adekanye (meniscus injury).
Suspensions: Patric.
JUVENTUS-GENOA
Juventus (4-4-2): Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Chilleini, Pellegrini; Kulusevski, Locatelli, Bentancur, Bernardeschi; Dybala, Morata.
Ruled Out: Chiesa, Danilo, De Sciglio (thigh strains), McKennie (knee sprain), Ramsey (thigh injury).
Genoa (3-5-2): Sirigu; Biraschi, Bani, Vasquez; Ghiglione, Hernani, Behrami, Touré, Cambiaso; Bianchi, Ekuban.
Ruled Out: Criscito, Rovella, Caicedo, Maksimovic (thigh strains), Sturaro (thigh pull), Cassata (knee surgery), Destro (thigh strain), Kallon (thigh injury), Fares (calf strain), Badelj (illness).
EMPOLI-UDINESE
Empoli (4-3-1-2): Vicario; Stojanovic, Romagnoli, Luperto, Marchizza; Haas, Ricci, Bandinelli; Henderson; Di Francesco, Pinamonti.
Potential changes: Marchizza/Parisi, Romagnoli/Tonelli, Bandinelli/Bajrami.
Udinese (4-4-2): Silvestri; Perez, Nuytinck, Samir, Udogie; Soppy, Jajalo, Arslan, Deulofeu; Success, Beto.
Potential changes: Soppy/Pussetto, Jajalo/Makengo, Success/Forestieri.
Ruled Out: Pereyra (collarbone surgery), Larsen (contractual dispute), Becao (thigh injury).
Suspensions: Walace, Molina.
CAGLIARI-TORINO
Cagliari (3-5-2): Cragno; Caceres, Ceppitelli, Carboni; Bellanova, Nandez, Marin, Grassi, Dalbert; Pavoletti, Keita.
Potential changes: Caceres/Godin, Grassi/Lykogiannis, Keita/Pavoletti.
Probable: Godin (muscle fatigue).
Questionable: Strootman (muscle fatigue).
Ruled Out: Rog (ACL tear), Walukiewicz (femoroacetabular impingement), Faragò (hip surgery).
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Zima, Bremer, Buongiorno; Vojvoda, Pobega, Lukic, Aina; Praet, Brekalo; Sanabria.
Potential changes: Zima/Izzo, Buongiorno/Rodriguez, Praet/Linetty.
Probable: Rodriguez (thigh strain).
Ruled Out: Belotti, Djidji, Verdi, Ansaldi (thigh strains), Mandragora (meniscus injury), Edera (ACL tear).
Suspensions: Singo.