Brescia-Inter: Eugenio Corini has had some reservations in using Alfredo Donnarumma and Mario Balotelli together, but Florian Aye, while tactically precious, has not been productive and so the more predictable duo should be the way to go moving forward. However, they have combined for just one goal in the last three matches and they will face one of the best back-lines in the League. Daniele Dessena’s injury ended up hurting Romulo’s fantasy stocks in the short-term, since he is being used as box-to-box, at least until one between Emanuele Ndoj and Jaromir Zmhral manages to unseat Nikolas Spalek, who has not been effective as no.10. Sandro Tonali is coming off his first Serie A goal and constitutes is half of their offense.
Antonio Candreva scored a rare goal not coming from the strikers for Inter against Parma, something that had not happened since Stefano Sensi went down with an injury. With Marcelo Brozovic struggling a bit and Nicolò Barella and Roberto Gagliardini not offering much of a presence in the final third, the Italian winger has been their third most lively player in recent matches after Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku, who are both in strong shape and are recommendable picks in this round. In case they sit the Belgian, Matteo Politano or Sebastiano Esposito could be cheap plugs. The Nerazzurri’s back-line instead has not been superb recently, but Stefan De Vrij has some upside for his sneaky playmaking and Cristiano Biraghi for his crossing.
Napoli-Atalanta: Arkadiusz Milik is finding some consistency and Carlo Ancelotti should continue to ride him, as Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne have fallen into a little dry spell, at least far as Serie A play is concerned. It could be a high-flying contest, so all three Partenopei stars could be taken into consideration, with the Polish hammer being the most in-form as he has been the only one to score in the last two domestic games. Hirving Lozano might get a chance from the jump, but he has yet to get it going, while their talented midfielders, Fabian Ruiz and Piotr Zielinski, have been hit-or-miss and not super involved in the offense: the latter in particular has been hurt by being moved around a lot in the formation, without finding a clear role where he could thrive. José Maria Callejon is instead always a threat.
No Duvan Zapata no problem for Atalanta, as their other Colombian striker has been en fuego in the past few weeks and he is coming off a hat-trick. Luis Muriel has now found the target every 42 minutes: they are already the top offense in Serie A and they will be truly scary once they will have the band back together. Josip Ilicic resumed producing against Udinese, while Alejandro Gomez, despite not scoring all that much, has been awfully consistent. Robin Gosens has been the best one among their ancillary players, already netting three goals. The contribution on offense by their two starting midfielders, Marten De Roon and Remo Freuler, usually depends on the match-up and this classifies among the most challenging ones.
Juventus-Genoa: the Madama did not capitalize on a plethora of chances in Lecce, but their offensive production is pretty consistent and so their strikers are good picks in any given round. A certain Cristiano Ronaldo will be back from a maintenance day and he has been going beserk at home so far. Paulo Dybala will likely partner him since Gonzalo Higuain got banged up in the last game and he too has been balling out. On the contrary, Federico Bernardeschi has not stepped it up filling in for Aaron Ramsey, squandering few opportunities, although he generally always has one or two clear ones, so he is a threat to break out. Miralem Pjanic will be on the mend, hence Rodrigo Bentancur will move to the pivot position that limits everybody’s fantasy value, but the Bosnian’s one. Sami Khedira should be back in the XI and, while he has not been great so far, he is their most offensive central midfielder. Juan Cuadrado has been a menace since becoming a regular at right back.
Thiago Motta started out with a conservative scheme against Brescia, but trotted out a very offensive one at half time and it allowed them to come back, so there are conflicting reports about what the initial approach will be in a tougher match-up. Either way, Christian Kouame and Andrea Pinamonti are set to benefit from a more proactive style and the Ivorian attacker returned to the scoresheet on Saturday, while the Italian starlet tends to score when you least expect him. Sinan Gumus and Kevin Agudelo saw action for the first time this season over the weekend and the latter even bagged a pretty goal: at least one could be in the lineup again, especially because Lukas Lerager and Francesco Cassata looked out of position. Goran Pandev might be pretty good as super-sub. Lasse Schone showed some signs of life.
Lazio-Torino: Ciro Immobile keeps delivering no matter what and it is obviously a good idea to keep relying on him. Joaquin Correa is finally upping his finishing with two goals in a row, although the midweek round might lead to Felipe Caicedo starting. While Luis Alberto has been tearing it up assist-wise, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic has had really just one quality performance so far. Manuel Lazzari is starting to round into form, while Jordan Lukaku dished out an assist in the last game and he could be productive if given some minutes.
Walter Mazzarri has yet to find the optimal configuration up front as the supporting cast around Andrea Belotti has been very trick-or-treat. Simone Verdi has struggled so far, while Iago Falque has not found an acceptable level of form after spending a lot of time on the mend due to an ankle injury. The coach has been resistant to using two centre-forwards together, but Sunday’s goal will likely boost Simone Zaza’s chances. They have not gotten much out of their midfielders either, Soualiho Meite and Daniele Baselli in particular, and also most of their wing-backs, Lorenzo De Silvestri, Ola Aina and Diego Laxalt, are still scoreless, while they usually are a part of the coach’s plan. Cristian Ansaldi instead bagged one and he has decent fantasy potential since he is a reliable ball handler.
Udinese-Roma: the Zebrette cratered against Atalanta, but they will hope that playing at home will solve some issues. Their attack has been putrid beside Stefano Okaka, who has netted three goals, which is more than half of their total tally. Kevin Lasagna is slumping and Rodrigo De Paul, while trending upwards, has not bagged one this season. Still nought from Rolando Mandragora and Seko Fofana too, who bot at times did damage last season.
Edin Dzeko continues to be extremely dependable, while Nicolò Zaniolo finally found the target in Serie A versus Milan and he was due after few positive showings. All of his goals have come at the Olimpico Stadium though. They are starting to get some pieces back as Justin Kluivert returns from suspension and Cengiz Under should be available off the bench. Playing few times in a row has actually helped Javier Pastore, who fared well versus Milan, while Diego Perotti needs time to work on his conditioning. Gianluca Mancini has been fine in the midfield and his robustness has freed up Jordan Veretout, allowing him to be more of a playmaker: it would not be surprising to see him score or assist in this one. They are extremely dangerous on set pieces.
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