A pretty uneven Serie A round is capped off by the mighty clash between Juventus and Milan.
Bologna-Roma: the Felsinei came away with a good point at Olimpico against Lazio, which marked the return to the scoresheet of Simone Verdi, who is by all accounts their best players. They stopped the slide after two tough losses and the return of Rodrigo Palacio adds some versatility and some pizzazz to their attack. Blerin Dzemaili started with a bang after coming back, but he has not been heard since. The Wolf has prevailed in six of their last seven Serie A fixtures and have won in four straight away matches. Edin Dzeko has resumed scoring consistently and they have gotten good contribution from Stephan El Shaarawy and Diego Perotti, while Radja Nainggolan is back to his “ninja” levels. Cengiz Under has understandably slowed down a little and suffered a knee sprain with Turkey. Alisson and the rest of the Giallorossi back-line is worth consideration because they have kept four clean sheets in the last five matches.
Inter-Verona: the Nerazzurri are coming off a dominating performance against Sampdoria and have been extremely solid at home. Mauro Icardi bagged four goals in Genoa, while Ivan Perisic finally broke out of his drought. Since being inserted in the XI, Rafinha has been a very serviceable glue guy in the midfield, while Joao Cancelo’s playmaking on the right remains one of their main sources of offence. Hellas had won two in a row, against Chievo and Torino, but two weeks ago they were trounced by Atalanta. They are a gritty team, but things can snowball on them if they start poorly. They do not truly have a consistent goal scorer and they will be without Moise Kean for a while: Daniele Verde and Ryder Matos will try to fill those shoes. Milan Skriniar and the Inter defence have been almost airtight.
Lazio-Benevento: the Biancocelesti unusually dropped point against both Cagliari and Bologna, allowing Roma and Inter to build a little lead and Milan to recover some ground in the Champions League race. However, they get a date with Benevento this week, which have been atrocious in the road, where they have yet to collect a point and have allowed a bounty of goals, 33 in 14 games. So Ciro Immobile, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson will be popular picks among fantasy players ahead of a very juicy match-up. Enrico Brignola has been the most positive note of the Sanniti’s season.
Sassuolo-Napoli: the Neroverdi won a crucial game before the break, outlasting Udinese on the road. That came as no surprise, because they have collected most of their points away from the Mapei Stadium, where their record counts two successes, five draws and seven losses. After a mini slump, the Partenopei downed Genoa and immediately cut Juventus’ lead in the standings. Napoli are undefeated on the road and have already totalled 12 wins there. Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and José Callejon are all playing well, Piotr Zielinski could be a smart addition in the wake of Marek Hamsik’s physical problems. Sassuolo have scored only six goals at home so far, so Pepe Reina, Mario Rui and company deserves a look. Khouma Babacar has been a useful addiction for Sassuolo, while Matteo Politano is their most in-form player.
Juventus-Milan: the Bianconeri’s 12-game winning streak came to an end against Spal, where they looked tired and uninspired. Their sequence of clean sheets has not and they are now up to nine Serie A games without conceding. However, they will square off against the soaring Milan, which have won five straight games and has been clutch in the last two against Genoa and Chievo. André Silva’s late-game heroics have lifted them, while Patrick Cutrone, Hakan Calhanoglu and Giacomo Bonaventura have done most of the damage scoring-wise prior to the final minutes. The Old Lady mostly relies on Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Douglas Costa upfront, all in stellar form, and the two Argentinians are big threats to scores in any given game.
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