Serie A Fantay Preview – Round Eight – Remaining Games

CROTONE-LAZIO

Crotone: only Simy has been moderately productive for them up front so far, as he has found the target three times, but he has also left something on the table with some big misses. Junior Messias is always very lively but he is not particularly clinical, while their other linchpin Ahmad Benali can not catch a break physically and is headed for another injury-related absence. Combining that with the fact that Salvatore Molina has COVID, they will be devoid of meaningful firepower. Milos Vulic has been pretty decent in the midfield, but he has big shoes to fill. Their other options there are not particularly appealing fantasy-wise, especially since they are not using Giovanni Crociata, who had some success in Serie B last year. Arkadiusz Reca has been a bright spot on the left flank and has served two assists.

Recommended picks: Simy, Messias, Vulic.

Lazio: mixed bag of news for the Biancocelesti as Ciro Immobile and Lucas Leiva shook off COVID-19, while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic unfortunately got it during his time with the national team and Luis Alberto is at risk of being disciplined for his incendiary comments toward the ownership. Felipe Caicedo did it again versus Juventus and he has become a specialist off the bench and in late-game situations, while Vedat Muriqi has not been great so far but hit the net on international duties, which is always helpful. They will obviously both suffer from Immobile coming back, but Caicedo retains some value. Joaquin Correa is their only cornerstone that has not had issues and he has stepped it up a little, but has yet to score in Serie A play. Andreas Pereira could be worth a flier if they indeed excluded Alberto because they would be in need of a creative midfielder, as Juan-Daniel Akpa Akpro is a ball of energy but more of a complementary piece. All three wingbacks, Manuel Lazzari, Mohamed Fares and Adam Marusic, are available and ready to rumble: Marusic has picked up the most bonuses thus far.

Recommended picks: Immobile, Correa, Caicedo.

SPEZIA-ATALANTA

Spezia: after some decent but not successful performances, they detonated versus Benevento, demolishing the direct competitors on the heels of a brace by M’Bala Nzola, while Tommaso Pobega had opened the scoring with his second goal in a row. Andrej Galabinov is not ready to return, therefore the young-ish Frenchman will continue to be the tip of the spear. They will instead have back Giulio Maggiore in the midfield and that will help out since Paolo Bartolomei will have to spend some more time on the shelf. Kevin Agudelo has limited competition since Daniele Verde is hurt and Diego Farias is better in limited minutes: he has hit the net once. Emmanuel Gyasi has been sprightly and has set up two goals so far, while Nahuel Estevez did it once the first time he got real minutes. Same contribution for their fullbacks Salvador Ferrer and Simone Bastoni, but they might make more conservative choices in a tough match-up.

Recommended picks: Nzola, Gyasi, Agudelo.

Atalanta: with the Liverpool clash on the horizon and the South Americans coming back late, it is possible the coach will go with an experimental lineup and rely on those that stayed home over the last couple of weeks. Since they have picked well in the transfer market, the drop-off would not be too dramatic if, for instance, Sam Lammers and Aleksey Miranchuk got the nod over Duvan Zapata and Alejandro Gomez, also because the Aquilotti are not robust in the back. The Russian forward has knocked one on goal in each of his two short appearances, same haul for the Dutch prospect, who has gotten more run. Josip Ilicic made it to the stat-sheet with Slovakia: the coach had put him aside a little after giving him major minutes right away upon returning. Luis Muriel is out this week. They should welcome back Robin Gosens as well, but he will probably be handled with caution after the calf injury. Mario Pasalic and Matteo Pessina have mid-range value as pivots, while Ruslan Malinovskyi has COVID.

Reccomended picks: Zapata/Lammers, Gomez, Miranchuk/Ilicic. 

FIORENTINA-BENEVENTO

Fiorentina: first game in charge for Cesare Prandelli, who will reportedly move on from 3-5-2 to array a more offensive-minded 4-3-3, perhaps with Christian Kouame playing on the flank, as he had done pretty well in his Genoa days. The main issue for the coach is the same as in the past, as they need one of their three young centre-forward to break out and become a reliable scorer: Dusan Vlahovic and Patrick Cutrone will both have their chances. Gaetano Castrovilli has been their most consistent player so far and has hit the net four times, while Franck Ribery has been more up and down and has provided a couple of assists. He would surely benefit if the team played with more pace. Giacomo Bonaventura could lose minutes with Erick Pulgar gaining them, and he is a great PK specialist, while Cristiano Biraghi will take a small hit because he will switch from wing-back to fullback and will not have the same opportunities offensively: he had been one of their better contributors so far with one goal and two assists. José Callejon cleared the COVID protocol, but he was in great shape before the hiccup.

Recommended picks: Castrovilli, Ribery, Vlahovic.

Benevento: they hit rock bottom against Spezia, where they did not show the same fight they had versus Verona and Napoli, albeit in losing efforts. Gianluca Caprari and Gianluca Caprari have scored more than half of their goals (three each), but the former is suspended here as well. Marco Sau did not pop in the past game, but he has two assists to his name already in the season, and Iago Falque is still not 100 percent and they do not have many more options. Roberto Insigne will be asked to handle a bigger usage and he found the target for the first and only time two tilts back against Napoli. There is not much interest beyond their front-line as Bryan Dabo and Artur Ionita have not made any noise, they are taking it slow with Nicolas Viola and the fullbacks generally furnish only a small contribution in the final third.

Recommended picks: Lapadula, Insigne, Sau.

SAMPDORIA-BOLOGNA

Sampdoria: after a hot streak, they came a cropper versus Cagliari in a game where a lof ot things did not go their way. Fabio Quagliarella has scored four times already and will be eager to return to the stat-sheet after striking out in the past two matches. They should have back Manolo Gabbiadini, but he will have to be managed coming off a nagging injury, while Balde Keita is poised to stay on the shelf, therefore Gaston Ramirez will once again be their main creator, even though he has had a modest impact thus far. Jakub Jankto has come alive and has scored twice in recent fixtures, adding one assist. Antonio Candreva has solved his physical problem and he too has been pretty good, while the bubbly Mikkel Damsgaard generally only makes cameos off the bench. They will not have their stud left-back Tommaso Augello due to suspension and the potential replacements are not interesting. Bologna have always conceded in the past 40+ matches.

Recommended picks: Quagliarella, Jankto, Ramirez.

Bologna: despite a late surge, they could not follow up the win over Cagliari with a good result against Napoli, but the good news for them is that Musa Barrow has snapped out of his funk and he can be very streaky. Since Rodrigo Palacio will never be particularly prolific despite being their main striker, they need as much scoring as they can get and, so far, it has mostly been Roberto Soriano keeping them afloat and he asserted himself as a fantasy star since he has already logged four goals and three assists. Andreas Skov Olsen’s timetable got pushed back, so Riccardo Orsolini will continue running the show on the right wing: he posted one goal and one assist in the last four game. They are starting to use Emanuel Vignato a little more and he has explosive potential, but his minutes are not consistent enough yet for him to be an option. Mattias Svanberg has been the most active offensively among their midfielders and he put one past the goalie recently. Lorenzo De Silvestri has not been a big presence at right-back, Aaron Hickey and Mitchell Dijks are both questionable on the left and Stefano Denswil is an adapted centre-back.

Recommended picks: Soriano, Barrow, Orsolini.

UDINESE-GENOA

Udinese: they went back to the ‘old’ conservative formation versus Sassuolo, which worked out fine as they stopped one of the most high-flying teams in the League, but their offensive production was damaged by that. It may be a back-and-forth moving forward. The coach has generally leaned on Stefano Okaka, while the other forwards have alternated next to him: Ignacio Pussetto has generally fared better than Kevin Lasagna and Gerard Deulofeu and has been the only one hitting the net. Okaka instead has done it twice. Rodrigo De Paul has nailed a PK and is always a massive playmaker, while Roberto Pereyra is dealing with a small injury and his presence is in jeopardy: his potential replacement Jean-Victor Makengo has not showed much so far. Marvin Zeegelaar resurfaced on the left wing in the past match, where Thomas Ouwejan had been pretty convincing, while Jens Stryger Larsen has quickly returned to his serviceable levels after the injury.

Recommended picks: De Paul, Okaka, Pussetto.

Genoa: Gianluca Scamacca has hit paydirt in two of the last three matches, Marko Pjaca did it in the most recent one, but he then suffered an injury and will miss time. As a result, Goran Pandev will reprise his large role. Miha Zajc has been used in his best position after the tactical revolution, but he has yet to get it going this year. Nicolò Rovella has been a revelation over the past few matches and he could have some fantasy upside as well thanks to his technique. After some issues, Luca Pellegrini will be ready to contribute on the left flank, while Davide Zappacosta, who had started off brilliantly, is likely to remain sidelined. Milan Badelj and Lukas Lerager have had an assist each.

Recommended picks: Scamacca, Pandev, Rovella.

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