Serie A are back to a more regular schedule for Round 22, as the COVID-19 emergency seems to have waned just a little. The most anticipated bout will take place on Sunday night, when Inter will put their winning streak on the line against Atalanta at home.
The matchday will be opened by Sampdoria hosting Torino, seeking to bounce back after four negative results versus an outfit that has not lost in a while but generally fares better at home. Salernitana returned to winning ways last week, but they will face Lazio, which have been up-and-down but generally consistent against the minnows. Juventus will look to wash away the bitter loss to Inter in Supercoppa in the Udinese game, where the opponents should have some pieces back after an outbreak.
The Sunday slate will begin with Sassuolo-Verona, two high-intensity sides separated by one point in the upper portion of the pack. Venezia have not won in five rounds and need to atone, but they will meet Empoli, which are in a much more serene spot despite a dry spell of their own. After finding a way to lose against Juventus and Milan, Roma will attempt to tame the suddenly frisky Cagliari that prevailed in their past two games.
Round 22 will be completed on Monday, with Napoli visiting Bologna, and both teams should be almost whole after their recent issues. The Partenopei could build on their narrow win over Sampdoria, while the Felsinei took home their full spoils just once in the last five rounds. Milan will gun for their fourth straight victory versus Spezia, which triumphed in two of the previous three rounds even though Thiago Motta is perpetually on the hot seat. Along those same lines, Andriy Shevchenko will try to save his job, but Genoa will square off against an angry Fiorentina.
Several players will return from the COVID-19 protocol this week, including Nicolò Zaniolo, Victor Osimhen, who was cleared after his facial fracture too, Nahitan Nandez and Hirving Lozano. On the other hand, a few more are rumored to have entered it. Federico Chiesa tore his ACL last week, while Lorenzo Insigne and Francesco Acerbi suffered muscular injuries. Fikayo Tomori will miss a month with a meniscus tear.
SAMPDORIA-TORINO
Sampdoria (4-4-2): Falcone; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Dragusin, Augello; Candreva, Rincon, Askildsen, Thorsby; Caputo, Gabbiadini.
Ruled Out: Colley (AFCON), Falcone (hip strain), Yoshida (thigh strain), Damsgaard (knee infection), Ihattaren (personal), Verre.
Suspensions: Chabot.
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Zima, Bremer, Rodriguez; Singo, Mandragora, Lukic, Vojvoda; Praet, Brekalo; Sanabria.
Ruled Out: Belotti (thigh strain), Aina (AFCON), Edera (ACL tear).
SALERNITANA-LAZIO
Salernitana (4-4-2): Belec; Delli Carri, Veseli, Motoc, Ranieri; Kechrida, Schiavone, Di Tacchio, Obi; Gondo, Djuric.
Ruled Out: L.Coulibaly (AFCON), M.Coulibaly (thigh strain), Strandberg (sports hernia surgery), Gaglliolo, Capezzi, Jaroszynski, Simy, Bogdan.
Suspensions: Gyomber.
Lazio (4-3-3): Strakosha; Hysaj, Luiz Felipe, Patric, Marusic; Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi, Luis Alberto; Pedro, Immobile, Zaccagni.
Ruled Out: Acerbi (thigh strain), Akpa Akpro (pneumonia), Basic, Radu.
JUVENTUS-UDINESE
Juventus (4-3-3): Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Rugani, Pellegrini; McKennie, Arthur, Bentancur; Dybala, Kean, Kulusevski.
Ruled Out: Chiesa (ACL tear), Bonucci, Danilo (thigh injuries), Ramsey (COVID-19).
Udinese (3-5-2): Padelli; Nehuen Perez, Nuytinck, Zeegelaar; Soppy, Walace, Arslan, Makengo, Udogie; Beto, Deulofeu.
Ruled Out: Pereyra (collarbone surgery), Larsen (contractual dispute), Benkovic (conditioning).
Suspensions: Becao.
SASSUOLO-VERONA
Sassuolo (4-3-3): Consigli; Toljan, Chiriches, Ferrari, Rogerio; Harroui, Maxime Lopez, Frattesi; Defrel, Scamacca, Raspadori.
Potential changes: Chiriches/Ayhan, Harroui/Kyriakopoulos, Defrel/Muldur.
Ruled Out: Traorè, Boga (AFCON), Peluso (COVID-19), Obiang (pneumonia), Romagna (patellar tendon tear), Schiappacasse (ACL tear), Djuricic, Magnanelli (thigh injuries), Mathes Henrique (calf injury).
Suspensions: Berardi.
Verona (3-4-2-1): Pandur; Casale, Gunter, Ceccherini; Depaoli, Tameze, Veloso, Lazovic; Barak, Caprari; Simeone.
Potential changes: Barak/Lasagna, Depaoli/Faraoni.
Ruled Out: Montipò, Faraoni, Bessa, Sutalo (COVID-19), Dawidowicz (ACL tear), Frabotta (Achilles tendon partial tear), Hongla (AFCON).
Suspensions: Ilic.
VENEZIA-EMPOLI
Venezia (4-3-3): Romero; Mazzocchi, Caldara, Ceccaroni, Haps; Cuisance, Ampadu, Busio; Aramu, Henry, Johnsen.
Potential changes: Ampadu/Vacca, Henry/Kiyine, Johnsen/Okereke.
Questionable: Vacca (return from COVID-19).
Note: Venezia have announced four unnamented COVID-19 cases.
Empoli (4-3-1-2): Vicario; Stojanovic, Tonelli, Ismajli, Luperto; Zurkowski, Ricci, Henderson; Bajrami; Cutrone, Pinamonti.
Potential changes: Tonelli/Romagnoli, Ismajli/Fiamozzi, Cutrone/Bandinelli.
Probable: Romagnoli (muscle fatigue).
Ruled Out: Di Francesco, Parisi (thigh strains), Haas (ACL tear), Marchizza (thigh injury).
Suspensions: Viti.
ROMA-CAGLIARI
Roma (4-2-3-1): Rui Patricio; Maitland-Niles, Mancini, Kumbulla, Vina; Veretout, Sergio Oliveira; Zaniolo, Pellegrini, Mkhitaryan; Abraham.
Potential changes: Veretout/Afena-Gyan.
Probable: Zaniolo.
Questionable: El Shaarawy (muscle fatigue), Karsdorp.
Doubtful: Smalling.
Ruled Out: Diawara, Darboe (AFCON), Spinazzola (Achilles tendon tear).
Suspensions: Cristante, Ibanez.
Cagliari (3-5-2): Cragno; Altare, Goldaniga, Carboni; Zappa, Nandez, Deiola, Marin, Lykogiannis; Joao Pedro, Pavoletti.
Potential changes: Goldaniga/Dalbert, Pavoletti/Pereiro.
Probable: Nandez (return from COVID-19)
Questionable: Ceppitelli (thigh muscle fatigue).
Ruled Out: Keita (AFCON), Strootman (knee surgery), Rog (ACL tear), Walukiewicz (femoroacetabular impingement), Ceter (knee injury), Grassi, Lovato, Bellanova, Oliva, Aresti (COVID-19).
ATALANTA-INTER
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso; Djimsiti, Demiral, Palomino; Hateboer, De Roon, Freuler, Pezzella; Malinovskyi, Pessina; Muriel.
Potential changes: Malinovskyi/Ilicic, Pezzella/Zappacosta, Pessina/Pasalic.
Probable: Djimsiti (tonsillitis), Zappacosta.
Questionable: Toloi, Sportiello, Maehle.
Doubtful: Zapata (thigh strain).
Ruled Out: Gosens (thigh strain).
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Dzeko, Alexis Sanchez.
Potential changes: De Vrij/D’Ambrosio, Darmian/Dumfries, Dzeko/Lautaro Martinez.
BOLOGNA-NAPOLI
Bologna (3-4-2-1): Skorupski; Soumaoro, Binks, Theate; De Silvestri, Dominguez, Svanberg, Hickey; Soriano, Sansone; Arnautovic.
Potential changes: Soumaoro/Bonifazi, Dominguez/Viola, Sansone/Skov Olsen.
Probable: Medel, Vignato (return from COVID-19).
Ruled Out: Barrow, Mbaye (AFCON), Santander (COVID-19), Kingsley (fibula fracture), Orsolini (shoulder sprain), Schouten, Dijks (thigh injuries)
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Ghoulam; Fabian Ruiz, Lobotka; Politano, Elmas, Lozano; Petagna.
Potential changes: Ghoulam/Mario Rui, Fabian Ruiz/Demme, Petagna/Mertens.
Probable: Osimhen (facial fracture), Zielinski, Mario Rui, Malcuit (return from COVID-19).
Ruled Out: Koulibaly, Anguissa, Ounas (AFCON), Ospina (calf injury), Insigne (thigh strain).
MILAN-SPEZIA
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Florenzi, Kalulu, Gabbia, Theo Hernandez; Bakayoko, Krunic; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Ibrahimovic.
Potential changes: Florenzi/Calabria, Saelemaekers/Messias. Ibrahimovic/Giroud.
Probable: Calabria (return from COVID-19).
Ruled Out: Tomori (meniscus tear), Kessié, Bennacer, Ballo-Touré (AFCON), Romagnoli, Castillejo (COVID-19), Pellegri (thigh strain), Kjaer (ACL tear).
Suspensions: Tonali.
Spezia (3-5-2): Provedel; Amian, Erlic, Nikolaou; Gyasi, Maggiore, Kiwior, Bastoni, Reca; Verde, Manaj.
Potential changes: Kiwior/Sala, Maggiore/Kovalenko, Manaj/Nzola.
Ruled Out: Colley (AFCON), Sena (failed physical).
FIORENTINA-GENOA
Fiorentina (4-3-3): Terracciano; Odriozola, Milenkovic, Igor, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Torreira, Duncan; Callejon, Vlahovic, Gonzalez.
Potential changes: Terracciano/Dragowski, Duncan/Maleh, Callejon/Saponara.
Probable: Sottil.
Questionable: Martinez Quarta, Benassi.
Ruled Out: Amrabat (AFCON).
Genoa (4-3-1-2): Sirigu; Hefti, Vanheusden, Ostigard, Calafiori; Sturaro, Badelj, Rovella; Portanova; Destro, Yeboah.
Potential changes: Calafiori/Cambiaso, Portanova/Melegoni, Yeboah/Caicedo.
Probable: Cambiaso (thigh pull).
Ruled Out: Maksimovic (thigh strains), Hernani, Kallon (COVID-19), Criscito (calf strain).
Suspensions: Vasquez.