SPAL-FIORENTINA
SPAL: they were thumped early against Verona and failed to generate any semblance of offense, interrupting a mini-streak of consecutive matches where they had managed to score. Their agony will finally end here after a terrible season. Marco D’Alessandro has been their best player in the resumption, while Andrea Petagna and Gabriel Strefezza were the most reliable ones in the first part of the season. Mattia Valoti and Federico Di Francesco came back from their injuries and they could be worth a flier-
Suggested picks: D’Alessandro, Petagna, Valoti.
Fiorentina: they did not have Franck Ribery versus Bologna but Federico Chiesa did more than just fill in, as he bagged his first Serie A-hat trick. The season finale might allow some underutilized talented players to log more minutes, like for instance Dusan Vlahovic and Kevin Agudelo, and the game is plum for whoever will start upfront, either Vlahovic, Patrick Cutrone or Christian Kouame, whom they are trying to get up to speed physically. They are down two regulars in the midfield as Gaetano Castrovilli broke his nose and Rachid Ghezzal is suspended.
Suggested picks: Chiesa, Kouame, Vlahovic.
BOLOGNA-TORINO
Bologna: they laid a big egg against Fiorentina, which is pretty surprisingly since Sinisa Mihajlovic has tried to keep everybody motivated. Prior to that stinker, Musa Barrow and Roberto Soriano had led them scoring-wise, especially in the second half of July, Rodrigo Palacio recently snapped out of his slump, while Riccardo Orsolini has been more hit-and-miss and Nicola Sansone has been silent for a while. However, it is possible they give another look to Federico Santander and Andreas Skov Olsen to see if they are keepers. Youngsters Mattias Svanberg and Nicolas Dominguez are both in a groove in the midfield.
Suggested picks: Barrow, Soriano, Orsolini.
Torino: they opted to initially rest Andrea Belotti against Roma and so Alex Berenguer and Simone Zaza combined for the first goal, while rookie Wilfred Singo bagged the second. The Spanish winger had not picked up bonuses since the first game of the restart, while Zaza has finally found some consistency. Simone Verdi is faring better these days and notched one goal and one assist in the last four outings. Simone Edera and Vincenzo Millico were excluded due to coach’s decision in the last round so they are unlikely to get the start here in a spot where they would have had a shot.
Suggested picks: Belotti, Zaza, Verdi.
GENOA-VERONA
Genoa: they surely did not perform as a team striving for points versus Sassuolo and such a collapse might not bode well ahead of the season finale. They have not found the target in the last two games, the goals prior to that came from Lukas Lerager and Antonio Sanabria, who is hurt. While Lerager and Filip Jagiello have received some run recently, also because of dings and bruises, it is possible the coach goes back to their less inspiring, fantasy-wise, veterans like Valon Behrami and Stefano Sturaro. It is uncertain whether they will go back to their best formation, featuring all three of Iago Falque, Andrea Pinamonti and Goran Pandev. Pandev has been their most consistent striker all season, while Pinamonti had a moment in early late June/early July.
Suggested picks: Pandev, Pinamonti, Falque.
Verona: Samuel Di Carmine finally returned to the starting XI and he erupted against SPAL, scoring two goals in short order. He has not been fielded as continuously as he probably deserves, but the centre-forwards tends to deliver when he is called upon. It is not a slam-dunk it will happen here though, as the coach is testing out Eddie Salcedo and might be given a token start to Giampaolo Pazzini in his last game at the club. Darko Lazovic resumed picking up bonuses thanks to an assist, while Federico Dimarco had two. In the previous matches, Sofyan Amrabat and Fabio Borini drilled PKs, while Matteo Pessina hit the net few times on open play, outdueling their other options at no.10 in that regard, Matteo Zaccagni, Valerio Verre and Valentin Eysseric.
Suggested picks: Di Carmine, Salcedo, Pessina.
LECCE-PARMA
Lecce: they managed to keep their season alive in Udinese with their two main players Marco Mancosu and Gianluca Lapadula coming through in the crucible of pressure. They both subbed off due to physical problems but will probably gut it out given the magnitude of the match. Filippo Falco has been dealing and wheeling too in recent matches, while Antonin Barak finally showed up with an assist against his former team. Riccardo Saponara has been a seesawing, while Yevhen Shakhov’s playing time depends on the health of his teammates.
Suggested picks: Lapadula, Mancosu, Falco.
Parma: another episode of the Dejan Kulusevski show aired Wednesday, as the starlet punished his former team with his deadly left foot on top of playing great. Unfortunately, they blew another lead. Gervinho provided an assist there and looked sprier than in previous outings: he could take advantage of the acres of spaces usually left by Lecce. Roberto Inglese had a small set-back and, among the forwards that have tried to replace him and Andreas Cornelius, Gianluca Caprari has been the only one capable of finding the target, through a PK. Juraj Kucka is suspended, so Jasmin Kurtic is their only interesting midfielders and they are very short of options there.
Suggested picks: Kulusevski, Gervinho, Kurtic.
SASSUOLO-UDINESE
Sassuolo: after some unfortunate displays, they unleashed their frustrations onto Genoa, severely squashing them. Domenico Berardi scored and provided three assists, Francesco Caputo had a brace and Hamed Traore halted his drought, then Giacomo Raspadori was instant offense off the bench. The only attacker not producing was Filip Djuricic, but he has been tremendous in some of the previous fixtures. Jeremie Boga might miss this one as well, which would open up playing for Lukas Haraslin, who has been pretty fluctuating. Manuel Locatelli and Rogerio have had some stellar outings but their role limit their offensive production.
Suggested picks: Caputo, Berardi, Djuricic.
Udinese: they started off very well against Lecce, but then quickly receded, allowing the opponents to comeback. Stefano Okaka, Ilija Nestorovski and Seko Fofana have delivered in the last four matches, making up for the lack of goals coming from Kevin Lasagna, who let up after a sizzling streak, but this could be a decent match-up for him. Rodrigo De Paul has been outright one of the best players in the League over the last four or five rounds. Ken Sema and Jens Larsen both set up teammates recently.
Suggested picks: Lasagna, De Paul, Okaka.
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