Another strong matchday for Serie A coming off of an international break. The Round 13 features Lazio-Juventus and Fiorentina-Milan in the Saturday slate. Atalanta-Spezia will kick off the hostilities, which the Bergamaschi looking to improve their home numbers against a combative side.
Sassuolo and Cagliari will square off in Sunday’s lunch match. The Sardinians are reeling at the bottom of the table, but the Neroverdi are not in much better shape after two straight tough losses. Sampdoria and Salernitana will square off later on in a key match for the relegation struggle. They are currently in 18th and 19th position and lost a bunch of times in recent tilts. Bologna will try to keep soaring in the other 3 pm game, but Venezia are no slouches.
Inter and Napoli will come to blows in the most anticipated game of the weekend. Roma will attempt to bounce back while visiting Genoa in Andriy Shevchenko’s debut. In the two Monday matches, Verona will host Empoli in a battle of high-flying minnows. Torino-Udinese will cap things off, with both sides eager to find some consistency.
The past two weeks have been unforgiving in terms of injuries. Ciro Immobile and Paulo Dybala are very much in doubt. Stefan De Vrij, Alexis Sanchez, Federico Bernardeschi, Davide Calabria, Ricardo Rodriguez, Adam Ounas, Dennis Praet, and Matteo Lovato suffered muscular problems while playing with their respective national teams. Adam Marusic contracted COVID. Domenico Criscito and Felipe Caicedo got hurt in practice. Fiorentina will not have three key defenders versus Milan.
On the other hand, the pause allowed a few players to recover, such as Rafael Toloi, Moise Kean, Nicolas Gonzalez, Kostas Manolas, Manuel Lazzari, Bartlomiej Dragowski, Balde Keita, Kevin Bonifazi, Hernani, Junior Messias, Ignacio Pussetto, and Dennis Johnsen.
ATALANTA-SPEZIA – Official
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso; Toloi, Palomino, Djimsiti; Zappacosta, De Roon, Koopmeiners, Maehle; Ilicic, Pasalic; Zapata.
Ruled Out: Gosens (thigh strain), Hateboer (foot microfracture), Lovato (thigh strain).
Spezia (4-3-3): Provedel; Amian, Erlic, Hristov, Bastoni; Maggiore, Sala, Kovalenko; Gyasi, Nzola, Verde.
Ruled Out: Bourabia (calf strain), Sena (failed physical), Agudelo (foot fracture).
Suspensions: Nikoloau.
LAZIO-JUVENTUS – Official
Lazio (4-3-3): Reina; Lazzari, Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Hysaj; Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Pedro, Zaccagni.
Ruled Out: Adekanye (meniscus injury), Marusic (COVID), Immobile (calf strain).
Juventus (4-4-2): Szczesny; Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Pellegrini; Cuadrado, McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot; Chiesa, Morata.
Ruled Out: Dybala (calf muscle fatigue), Bernardeschi (hip strain), De Sciglio (thigh strain), Chiellini (Achilles’ tendon injury), Ramsey (thigh injury).
FIORENTINA-MILAN – Official
Fiorentina (4-3-3): Terracciano; Odriozola, Venuti, Igor, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Torreira, Duncan; Callejon, Vlahovic, Saponara.
Ruled Out: Dragowski (thigh strain), Nastasic (calf strain), Pulgar (back pain), Kokorin (thigh injury), Pulgar (ankle sprain).
Suspensions: Martinez Quarta, Milenkovic.
Milan (4-2-3-1): Tatarusanu; Kalulu, Kjaer, Gabbia, Theo Hernandez; Kessié, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Ibrahimovic.
Ruled Out: Maignan (wrist injury), Tomori (hip injury), Calabria (calf strain), Rebic (thigh injury), Castillejo (thigh strain).
SASSUOLO-CAGLIARI – Official
Sassuolo (4-2-3-1): Consigli; Toljan, Chiriches, Ferrari, Rogerio; Maxime Lopez, Frattesi; Berardi, Raspadori, Traoré; Scamacca.
Ruled Out: Obiang (pneumonia), Romagna (patellar tendon tear), Schiappacasse (ACL tear), Djuricic (thigh injury), Goldaniga, Boga (thigh injury)
Cagliari (4-4-2): Cragno; Zappa, Ceppitelli, Carboni, Lykogiannis; Nandez, Marin, Grassi, Bellanova; Joao Pedro, Keita.
Ruled Out: Rog (ACL tear), Walukiewicz (femoroacetabular impingement), Ceter (thigh strain), Godin (thigh injury), Farias (calf injury).
BOLOGNA-VENEZIA – Official
Bologna (3-4-2-1): Skorupski; Soumaoro, Medel, Theate; Orsolini, Dominguez, Svanberg, Hickey; Soriano, Barrow; Arnautovic.
Probable: Bonifazi (calf strain), Svanberg (ankle bruise), Orsolini (knee contusion).
Ruled Out: Schouten (thigh injury), De Silvestri (thigh strain), Kingsley (fibula fracture), Skov Olsen (ankle sprain).
Venezia (4-3-3): Romero; Mazzocchi, Caldara, Ceccaroni, Haps; Ampadu, Vacca, Busio; Aramu, Okereke, Johnsen.
Ruled Out: Svoboda (disc injury), Fiordilino (sports hernia), Ebuehi (thigh strain), Crnigoj (muscle fatigue).
SALERNITANA-SAMPDORIA – Official
Salernitana (4-3-1-2): Belec; Zortea, Gyomber, Gagliolo, Ranieri; L.Coulibaly, Di Tacchio, Obi; Ribery; Djuric, Gondo.
Ruled Out: M.Coulibaly (thigh strain), Ruggeri (thigh strain), Veseli (calf injury), Strandberg (muscle fatigue)
Sampdoria (4-4-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Colley, Augello; Candreva, Ekdal, Thorsby, Verre; Quagliarella, Caputo.
Ruled Out: Damsgaard (thigh strain), Ihattaren (personal), Vieira (foot fracture), Torregrossa (calf injury), Verre (knee bruise).
Suspensions: Adrien Silva.
INTER-NAPOLI – Official
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, Ranocchia, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez.
Ruled Out: De Vrij (thigh injury), Alexis Sanchez (thigh injury), Eriksen (heart issues).
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Fabian Ruiz, Anguissa; Lozano, Zielinski, Insigne; Osimhen.
Ruled Out: Ounas (thigh pull), Politano, Demme (COVID), Manolas (thigh strain).
GENOA-ROMA – Official
Genoa (3-5-2): Sirigu; Biraschi, Vasquez, Masiello; Sabelli, Badelj, Barella, Sturaro, Cambiaso; Pandev, Ekuban.
Ruled Out: Criscito (thigh strain), Caicedo (thigh pull), Cassata (knee surgery), Destro (thigh strain), Maksimovic (thigh strain), Fares (calf strain), Kallon (thigh injury), Bani (thigh injury).
Roma (3-5-2): Rui Patricio; Mancini, Kumbulla, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Mkhitaryan, Veretout, Pellegrini, El Shaarawy; Shomurodov, Abraham.
Ruled Out: Spinazzola (Achilles tendon tear), Cristante, Villar (COVID), Vina, Calafiori (thigh injury).
VERONA-EMPOLI
Verona (3-4-2-1): Montipò; Dawidowicz, Gunter, Ceccherini; Faraoni, Tameze, Veloso, Casale; Barak, Caprari; Simeone.
Potential changes: Casale/Magnani, Ceccherini/Lazovic, Tameze/Hongla.
Questionable: Ilic (ankle injury), Lazovic (thigh injury).
Ruled Out: Frabotta (Achilles’ tendon partial tear).
Suspensions: Bessa, Kalinic.
Empoli (4-3-1-2): Vicario; Stojanovic, Tonelli, Viti, Parisi; Zurkowski, Ricci, Bandinelli; Henderson; Di Francesco, Pinamonti.
Potential changes: Viti/Luperto, Ricci/Stulac, Henderson/Bajrami.
TORINO-UDINESE
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Djidji, Bremer, Buongiorno; Singo, Pobega, Lukic, Aina; Linetty, Brekalo; Belotti.
Potential changes: Djidji/Zima, Aina/Vojvoda, Linetty/Pjaca.
Probable: Djidji (nose fracture), Sanabria (back pain), Praet (thigh edema)
Ruled Out: Mandragora (meniscus injury), Rodriguez (thigh strain), Edera (ACL tear), Rodriguez (thigh strain), Ansaldi (thigh strain).
Udinese (3-4-2-1): Silvestri; Becao, Nuytinck, Samir; Molina, Arlsan, Walace, Udogie; Pereyra, Deulofeu; Beto.
Potential changes: Samir/Nehuen Perez, Molina/Soppy, Arslan/Jajalo.
Probable: Pussetto (knee soreness), Arslan (thigh injury), Samir (ankle sprain).
Ruled Out: Stryger Larsen (contractual dispute).
Suspensions: Makengo.