Serie A will head into the brand-new late January break with a tasty Round 23 featuring a pair of bangers. Lazio will host Atalanta Saturday, looking for their first signature win of the season, while the Bergamaschi, who excel on the road, need to fend off Juventus. The Bianconeri have a very challenging match on deck, though, as they will visit Milan, which are slipping a little at San Siro.
The matchday will begin Friday with Verona colliding with Bologna: the Scaligeri won two of their last three matches, while the Rossoblù have been languishing for quite some time. The new Genoa coach Alexander Blessin will debut versus Udinese, which lost their last two matches while being very depleted. After being held to a tie by Atalanta, but still somehow gaining ground on Milan, Inter will try to open a new winning streak against Venezia. The Lagunari have not been successful in over a month but drew in three of their last four tilts.
Fiorentina will seek consistency on the road after destroying Genoa, and they will have an excellent opportunity versus the combative yet short-handed Cagliari. Napoli could build on their last two wins in a favorable home contest versus Salernitana. The hard-to-kill Thiago Motta and his Spezia will square off with Sampdoria in a key clash in Marco Giampaolo’s return on the Blucerchiati bench. There will be another battle of the top-notch minnows this week as Torino will lock horns with Sassuolo. Roma will attempt to get the second straight victory, which has not happened a lot, while facing Empoli, which are tough to deal with but have had a ton of success lately.
No major injuries since the last round, although COVID-19 continues to loom. Salernitana, Venezia, and Cagliari are on the brink of having too many cases according to the new protocol, and their matches might be postponed.
VERONA-BOLOGNA
Verona (3-4-2-1): Montipò; Casale, Gunter, Ceccherini; Faraoni, Ilic, Veloso, Lazovic; Barak, Caprari; Simeone.
Ruled Out: Dawidowicz (ACL tear), Frabotta (Achilles tendon partial tear), Hongla (AFCON).
Bologna (3-4-2-1): Skorupski; Bonifazi, Medel, Binks; Hickey, Dominguez, Svanberg, Theate; Orsolini, Soriano; Sansone.
Ruled Out: Barrow, Mbaye (AFCON), De Silvestri (illness), Kingsley (fibula fracture), Santander (COVID-19).
Suspensions: Soumaoro.
GENOA-UDINESE
Genoa (4-3-3): Sirigu; Hefti, Venheusden, Bani Vasquez; Sturaro, Badelj, Portanova; Ekuban, Destro, Yeboah.
Ruled Out: Maksimovic (thigh strain), Criscito (calf injury), Rovella (thigh soreness), Ghiglione, Kallon, Hernani (COVID-19).
Udinese (3-5-2): Silvestri; Becao, Nuytinck, Nehuen Perez; Molina, Arslan, Walace, Makengo, Soppy; Deulofeu, Becao.
Ruled Out: Pereyra (collarbone surgery), Larsen (contractual dispute).
INTER-VENEZIA
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez.
Ruled Out: Correa (thigh injury).
Venezia (4-3-1-2): Lezzerini; Modolo, Caldara, Ceccaroni, Ullmann; Ampadu, Vacca, Tessmann; Cuisance; Henry, Okereke.
Ruled Out: Ebuehi (AFCON), Haps, Romero, Johnsen, Mazzocchi, Aramu, Crnigoj, Busio (COVID-19).
Note: Venezia have more unnamed COVID-19 cases.
LAZIO-ATALANTA
Lazio (4-3-3): Strakosha; Hysaj, Luiz Felipe, Patric, Marusic; Milinkovic-Savic, Lucas Leiva, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Immobile, Zaccagni.
Ruled Out: Acerbi (thigh strain), Akpa Akpro (pneumonia).
Suspensions: Cataldi.
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso; Djimsiti, Demiral, Palomino; Zappacosta, Scalvini, Freuler, Pezzella; Pessina, Miranchuk; Pasalic.
Ruled Out: Gosens (thigh strain), Ilicic, Malinovskyi, Hateboer, Toloi, Muriel, Koopmeiners, Pasalic; Zapata (thigh strain).
Note: Atalanta rumored to have multiple COVID-19 cases.
CAGLIARI-FIORENTINA
Cagliari (3-5-2): Radunovic; Altare, Lovato, Goldaniga; Zappa, Grassi, Marin, Dalbert, Bellanova; Joao Pedro, Pereiro.
Potential changes: Lovato/Ceppitelli, Bellanova/Nandez, Grassi/Ladinetti.
Questionable: Ceppitelli (thigh injury), Lovato, Grassi, Oliva, Bellanova (return from COVID-19), Nandez (thigh knock).
Ruled Out: Cragno, Deiola, Lykogiannis, (COVID-19), Keita (AFCON), Strootman (knee surgery), Rog (ACL tear), Walukiewicz (femoroacetabular impingement), Ceter (knee injury).
Suspensions: Carboni, Pavoletti.
Fiorentina (4-3-3): Terracciano; Odriozola, Milenkovic, Igor, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Torreira, Duncan; Callejon, Piatek, Gonzalez.
Potential changes: Terracciano/Dragowski, Duncan/Castrovilli, Callejon/Ikonè.
Ruled Out: Amrabat (AFCON) Vlahovic, Saponara, Martinez Quarta (COVID-19).
NAPOLI-SALERNITANA
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Mario Rui; Fabian Ruiz, Lobotka; Lozano, Zielinski, Elmas; Mertens.
Potential changes: Ospina/Meret, Mertens/Osimhen, Elmas/Insigne.
Probable: Ospina (calf contracture), Insigne (thigh pull).
Ruled Out: Koulibaly, Anguissa, Ounas (AFCON).
Salernitana (3-5-2): Belec; Delli Carri, Bogdan, Veseli; Kechrida, Di Tacchio, Schiavone, Obi, Jaroszynski; Simy, Bonazzoli.
Potential changes: Bogdan/Motoc, Jaroszynski/Ruggeri, Simy/Vergani.
Probable: Gagliolo, Bogdan (return from COVID-19).
Questionable: Kastanos, Djuric, Capezzi, Gondo, Jaroszynski, Zortea, Fiorillo; Simy, Ruggeri (knock).
Ruled Out: L.Coulibaly (AFCON), Strandberg (sports hernia surgery), Ribery (conditioning).
Suspension: Ranieri.
Note: Salernitana have a few COVID-19 cases.
SPEZIA-SAMPDORIA
Spezia (4-3-3): Provedel; Amian, Erlic, Nikolaou, Reca; Kovalenko, Kiwior, Bastoni; Gyasi, Manaj, Verde.
Potential changes: Kovalenko/Agudelo, Kiwior/Sala, Manaj/Nzola.
Ruled Out: Colley (AFCON), Sena (failed physical), Bourabia.
Suspensions: Maggiore.
Sampdoria (4-4-2): Falcone; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Magnani, Augello; Candreva, Ekdal, Thorsby, Murru; Caputo, Gabbiadini.
Potential changes: Ferrari/Dragusin, Magnani/Chabot, Murru/Rincon.
Ruled Out: Colley (AFCON), Audero (hip strain), Yoshida (thigh strain), Damsgaard (knee infection), Ihattaren (personal), Quagliarella (calf soreness), Verre.
TORINO-SASSUOLO
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Djidji, Bremer, Buongiorno; Singo, Pobega, Lukic, Vojvoda; Praet, Brekalo; Sanabria.
Potential changes: Djidji/Zima, Buongiorno/Rodriguez, Pobega/Mandragora.
Questionable: Ansaldi (return from COVID-19), Linetty, Baselli, Kone.
Ruled Out: Belotti (thigh strain), Aina (AFCON), Edera (ACL tear).
Sassuolo (4-3-3): Consigli; Toljan, Chiriches, Ferrari, Rogerio; Harroui, Maxime Lopez, Frattesi; Berardi, Scamacca, Raspadori.
Potential changes: Toljan/Muldur, Harroui/Kyriakopoulos, Berardi/Defrel.
Probable: Berardi (return from COVID-19).
Ruled Out: Traorè, Boga (AFCON), Obiang (pneumonia), Romagna (patellar tendon tear), Schiappacasse (ACL tear), Matheus Henrique (calf injury), Djuricic (thigh strain).
EMPOLI-ROMA
Empoli (4-3-1-2): Vicario; Stojanovic, Tonelli, Viti, Marchizza; Zurkowski, Ricci, Henderson; Bajrami; Cutrone, Pinamonti.
Potential changes: Tonelli/Ismajli, Viti/Romagnoli, Cutrone/Bandinelli.
Ruled Out: Di Francesco, Parisi (thigh strains), Haas (ACL tear), Luperto (thigh injury).
Roma (4-2-3-1): Rui Patricio; Karsdorp, Mancini, Ibanez, Vina; Sergio Oliveira, Cristante; Zaniolo, Mkhitaryan, Afena-Gyan; Abraham.
Potential changes: Karsdorp/Maitland-Niles, Ibanez/Smalling, Cristante/Veretout.
Probable: Smalling (return from COVID-19), El Shaarawy (thigh muscle fatigue).
Ruled Out: Diawara, Darboe (AFCON), Spinazzola (Achilles tendon tear).
MILAN-JUVENTUS
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Romagnoli, Theo Hernandez; Krunic, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Ibrahimovic.
Potential changes: Calabria/Florenzi, Krunic/Bakayoko, Saelemaekers/Messias.
Ruled Out: Tomori (meniscus tear), Kessié, Ballo-Touré (AFCON), Pellegri (thigh strain), Kjaer (ACL tear).
Juventus (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; De Sciglio, De Ligt, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Locatelli, Rabiot; Cuadrado, Dybala, McKennie; Morata.
Potential changes: Alex Sandro/Pellegrini, Rabiot/Bentancur, De Sciglio/Cuadrado.
Probable: Bernardeschi (thigh muscle fatigue).
Ruled Out: Chiesa (ACL tear), Bonucci, Ramsey (thigh injuries), Ramsey (return from COVID-19).