Roma-Napoli: the Giallorossi have reached a pretty strong level of consistency and they are starting to recovering pieces, which will further add to their arsenal. Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov have been terrific all year long, Nicolò Zaniolo has started scoring, Justin Kluivert did damage in Udine and even Javier Pastore is starting to look good playing with continuity. Gianluca Mancini has been a stabilyzing presence, allowing the other contributors to focus more on the offense, primarly Jordan Veretout has begun to be more impactful as a playmaker after a slow start at his new club. Diego Perotti and Cengiz Under will likely need some time before being fit enough to receiving considerable playing time.
While La Lupa are getting something from all their top contributors, the most recent Azzurri goals in Serie A have all come from Arkadiusz Milik, with the exception of one by Nikola Maksimovic. Dries Mertens has not found the target in four matches, Lorenzo Insigne in six, despite their constant high usage. José Callejon instead at least has been active in the assist department, like Fabian Ruiz. Their offense has lost a bit of its chorality and overall efficacy. Piotr Zielinski is poised to get some burn with Allan sidelined for a while, but he has not been very productive as central midfielder. Hirving Lozano has struggled make an impact. The magnitude of the game should prevent any funny business in terms of rotations.
Bologna-Inter: over the last month, the Felsinei have clanged onto Rodrigo Palacio’s scoring and goals by defenders, with Mattia Bani, Ladislav Krejci and Danilo all hitting the net recently. The only detour was a penalty by Federico Santander. It is not a sustainable model and they need Riccardo Orsolini and Nicola Sansone to get it going, the former in particular has been unable to recapture the form he had at the end of last season. Roberto Soriano continues to be mired by bad misses even though he is always in the thick of it. In the midfield, Matthias Svanberg and Jerdy Schouten have more fantasy appeal than Blerin Dzemaili and Andrea Poli, but they have had revolving doors there.
The Beneamata has a pretty predictable design up front, but it is darn effective if Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez perform like this. The duo delivered again in Brescia and is expanding its range. The Belgian has notched seven goals, while El Toro posted five and they are good picks in any given round, especially against the minnows. Their third best player recently has been Antonio Candreva, while Marcelo Brozovic is in a funk. Stefano Sensi might be able to make a cameo, but it is better to wait until he gets some minutes in his legs. Roberto Gagliardini has not been a fantasy option in his relief. Their back-line has not been as rock-solid as at the beginning of the season, allowing at least a goal in five consecutive contests.
Torino-Juventus: Andrea Belotti’s unfortunate own goal was the epitome of the recent pitiful stretch for the Granata, which have not been able to win since late September and have hit the net just once in the last four matches, with Simone Zaza. The all-around struggles have understandably affected the production of the two centre-forward, who have been the only ones to save face so far. Il Gallo registered five goals, but has struck out in the last four fixtures. They have gotten next to nothing, both fantasy-wise and in reality, from players like Iago Falque, who has the justification of the early injury, Simone Verdi, Daniele Baselli, Lorenzo De Silvestri and Ola Aina, who used to be pretty reliable last season. Few of them will have to break out if they want to stir the ship. Their defence has been lousy. Cristian Ansaldi is at least generally pretty active.
The Bianconeri have not been their best selves recently, but eked out a win versus Genoa thanks to a late play out of the blue by Cristiano Ronaldo, who atoned for his early misses. He is always one to watch in big games and the Derby della Mole is one, despite Torino’s recent form. Paulo Dybala has been their main source of offense lately and he has put his name in the scoresheet twice in the last four games. Federico Bernardeschi has been more hit-and-miss, but, even though he has not been clutch, he always has an opportunity or two to score. Douglas Costa and Aaron Ramsey returned on Wednesday and the latter seemed to be pretty fit, he would be a fine selection in the unlikely event he gets the nod. Gonzalo Higuain should be back in the squad list but he is unlikely to start, while Miralem Pjanic could miss another one. Sami Khedira and Blaise Matuidi have been non-factors offensively after decent starts in that area.
Atalanta-Cagliari: Josip Ilicic found the target again in Naples, confirming that he has definitely busted out of his mini slump, while Alejandro Gomez looked like somebody who could use a breather and perhaps it will happen here. If that was the case, Ruslan Malinovskyi would be a sneaky peak. Luis Muriel is a lock to start and he has been terrorizing defences for a while. Marten De Roon is suspended: Remo Freuler and Mario Pasalic a higher upside in the final third compared to him. Robin Gosens has been the best out of their wing-backs, but also Timothy Castagne has scored once and they are a big part of the equation. Differently from last season, instead, they have not done much damage on set pieces. They have by far the best offense in the League.
The Sardinians are firing on all cylinders and their success has been the result of a collective effort. Joao Pedro has been their leading scorer with five goals, with two coming in the midweek round, but everybody has been able to contribute scoring-wise. Giovanni Simeone, Nahitan Nandez, Radja Nainggolan and Lucas Castro give them a vast assortment of weapons, the only ones missing out so far have been Marko Rog and Artur Ionita. The Goddess’ back-line has not been the stingiest so far, therefore there could be an opportunity for them to cash in on that, with their striking tandem being the most likely beneficiary.
Milan-Lazio: the Rossoneri got the W against SPAL, but they took a step back compared to Stefano Pioli’s debut versus Lecce. At least Suso came alive and that is good news considering how much they rely on him. The lack of feeds are hurting both Krzysztof Piatek and Rafael Leao, who so far have mostly alternated under the new course. They have not been particularly precise either. Lucas Paqueta is seeing the pitch more consistently but he has not translated that into goals/assists yet, while Frank Kessie has been underwhelming. Hakan Calhanoglu has bounced back and has taken on a larger and more offensive role. Theo Hernandez has been one of the few positives.
Ciro Immobile tacked on two more goals and he is running away atop of the capocannonieri chart and should be in every lineup since he is white hot. Luis Alberto picked up another assist and they have an almost telepathic connection. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic has scored just once, but at least he has provided four helpers to maintain a modicum of fantasy relevance. Joaquin Correa has hit bullseye in the last two starts and considering the state of Milan, it is probably not a bad idea to lean on the Biancocelesti.
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