Serie A resumes with a soft relaunch that features the matches that were postponed in March.
Torino-Parma: the Granata were one of the least interesting teams fantasy-wise before the stoppage, with Andrea Belotti being the only okay piece to rely on. The coach has been working on ways to fix that and might go with a more aggressive scheme this time around, with the Rooster and Simone Zaza together and Alex Berenguer and Simone Edera on the flanks, since Simone Verdi will be out for a while. They also lost Daniele Baselli, another substantial blow, and Cristian Ansaldi, one of their biggest playmakers, is not totally right. Besides the spry Berenguer (five goals so far), it is a wait-and-see approach.
No hiccups instead for the Ducali during the second preparation and they might get Roberto Inglese back at some point. Anyway, Andreas Cornelius (nine goals) has been very reliable in relief and complements pretty well their lethal offensive duo composed by Gervinho and Dejan Kulusevski. The future Juventus players was explosive out of the gate in August and that might happen again. A bunch of their midfielders got healthy during the prolonged break and the most intriguing remain Juraj Kucka and Jasmin Kurtic, who have a decent nose for the goal.
Verona-Cagliari: the Scaligeri too recovered a pair of key pieces over the last three months, Marco Davide Faraoni and Fabio Borini, who had just picked up muscular problems in March. The wingback has been an underrated fantasy weapon so far with his three-goal, three-assist tally, which is similar to his counter-part Darko Lazovic. They have all their offensive pieces up and running now, but the question remains whether they will go with a false nine, Borini, Valerio Verre or Eddy Salcedo, or with a pure striker, Samuel Di Carmine, Giampaolo Pazzini or Mariusz Stepinski, in order of likelihood. The uncertainness and the abundance of options make Matteo Pessina and Mattia Zaccagni, who should have a more secure role, the most palatable choices.
The Rossoblù will be severely undermanned in this one as their top players Joao Pedro and Radja Nainggolan are out, one with a suspension, the other with a calf injury. A lot with fall on the shoulders on Giovanni Simeone, who is usually hit-and-miss, and Gaston Pereiro, who had shown some interesting stuff in late February/early March. Nahitan Nandez and Marko Rog will have to step up a little as well. Back-ups Alberto Paloschi and Valter Birsa could see decent minutes due to the absences. A tweak in their system could give more emphasis to the flank game and Luca Pellegrini could benefit.
Atalanta-Sassuolo: the Bergamaschi were humming right before the stoppage and now the most pressing matter concerns the fitness level of their linchpins. Duvan Zapata was on a tear but he is massive, Josip Ilicic might need some time too, while Alejandro Gomez and Luis Muriel have better chances of being their usual selves immediately. In any case, they are the most prolific attack for a reason and it is always recommendable to pick somebody from them. Fullback Robin Gosens has been their fourth top scorer with his seven goals.
The Neroverdi were able to recuperate two of their most important players, Domenico Berardi and Jeremy Toljan, since they got injured in the last game but ended up missing zero time. The ex-Borussia Dortmund man is pretty appealing for a defender. Besides their leader, Jeremie Boga and Francesco Caputo were in strong condition in March and they rely a lot on their no.10 too, either Filip Djuricic or Hamed Traore. Therefore, it is another exciting front-line to choose from, even though the game will be tough.
Inter-Sampdoria: the big news for the Nerazzurri is that Antonio Conte has decided to unleash Christian Eriksen by tilting his system and he could become a bonus machine. They might have a little bit of troubles up front due to all the rumours surrounding Lautaro Martinez, who has struck out in the last six appearances, and because Romelu Lukaku (17 goals) might need some time to be properly fit. In any case, the match-up is ripe and should help. Nicolò Barella and Marcelo Brozovic lose some of their shine in a slightly more defensive position, but they were not particularly good fantasy contributors before either. Antonio Candreva stood out in the cup semifinal.
Similarly to Torino, there is not a lot going on chez the Blucerchiati, especially because their top guy Fabio Quagliarella will be sidelined by a small injury. The fairly inconsistent Manolo Gabbiadini (five goals) and Gaston Ramirez will have to shoulder a big load offensively. Jakub Jankto could be a wild factor for his traits, but he has been dormant for most of the season, while Karol Linetty is generally more helpful on the defensive side of the ball, especially against strong opponents. Federico Bonazzoli has a chance to see real minutes.
PREDICTIONS
Torino-Parma: the home team is coming off six straight losses, the Crociati were not in their best moment before the hiatus, as they had won one of the last four matches, versus Sassuolo, and lost to Lazio and SPAL. The expected low rhythms of the restart could yield a draw between two defensive-oriented sides: 0-0.
Verona-Cagliari: the Scaligeri had their 10-game undefeated streak snapped by Sampdoria right before the stoppage, while Cagliari have not prevailed in ten rounds and lost in the last three, versus Genoa, Napoli and Roma. However, they changed their coach, which could give them a little bump against a worthy opponent: 1-1.
Atalanta-Sassuolo: the Bergamaschi were in pristine form before the hiatus, as they had triumphed in four of the last five matches, netting seven goals in two separate occasions. The Neroverdi were in a groove too, as they had capitulated just once in the previous six tilts, racking up four wins, but mostly versus struggling clubs. The Orobici could be a little too much for them, but there should be more action here: 3-2.
Inter-Sampdoria: before the pandemic, the Beneamata were handed back-to-back heartbreaking losses by Lazio and Juventus, likely a fatal blow to their title hopes. The Blucerchiati were wildly uneven since, in their last four, they had defeated Torino and Verona but were dismantled by Napoli and Fiorentina. The Meneghini have usually been effective against the minnows: 2-0.
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