PARMA-JUVENTUS
Parma: they were pretty underwhelming in the Cagliari game, where Gervinho (four goals, one assist) confirmed to be in a pretty good run of form, but the prolonged drought of both Andreas Cornelius and Roberto Inglese is starting to hurt. The midfielders have picked up some of the slack, Hernani and Jasmin Kurtic in the particular as they have hit the net respectively three and two times, but it is not a sustainable model. Neither Yann Karamoh nor Juan Brunetta have fully exploited the increased role the coach has given them, maybe they will go with a more conservative option in this one since Juraj Kucka is available and he played in an attacking position in the past. However, he has not been convincing from the fantasy standpoint so far this season.
Recommended picks: Gervinho, Hernani, Kurtic.
Juventus: in a weird twist, the Bianconeri got hampered by poor performances by their strikers against Atalanta, as Cristiano Ronaldo missed a PK and Alvaro Morata squandered some good opportunities. It is easy to imagine Ronaldo, who has scored ten times in Serie A, bouncing back quickly, especially since Paulo Dybala, who was a candidate to start in this one, is out with a minor injury. Federico Chiesa is coming off a cracking goal, his first in domestic play, and prior to that he had served four assists, on a par with Juan Cuadrado. Weston McKennie has been an incredible tactical weapon in the last few matches, but this may be the right opportunity to reintroduce either Aaron Ramsey or Dejan Kulusevski, who have fallen to the background.
Recommended picks: Ronaldo, Morata, Chiesa.
INTER-SPEZIA
Inter: they had no business winning the Napoli clash, but they somehow kept the clean sheet and Romelu Lukaku was ice cold on the penalty kick drawn by Matteo Darmian, who was filling in for Achraf Hakimi and has often played at the same level as the teammate. Lautaro Martinez has been pretty quiet recently, while Alexis Sanchez is out. Stefano Sensi finally got meaningful minutes and played well, which would come in handy if neither Arturo Vidal nor Marcelo Brozovic recovered for this game. The big Belgian has netted ten goals so far, same hauls as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo, El Toro is at half of that. Nicolò Barella has notched one goal, last Sunday in Cagliari, and four assists and, even if slightly banged up, is clearly their best option out of the midfield.
Recommended picks: Lukaku, Martinez, Barella.
Spezia: M’Bala Nzola returned against Bologna and that made all the difference, even though they almost completely threw it away late. With that brace, the Frenchman has moved to six goals but in just eight appearances as he returned to the club late. Emmanuel Gyasi (one goal, three assists) has been a pretty good sidekick, but also Diego Farias and Kevin Agudelo have showed well in recent matches: their offense is going strong, their (relative) problems lie in the back. Nahuel Estevez and Tommaso Pobega (two goals) are worth a flier even though their rotations in the midfield are not very clear.
Recommended picks: Nzola, Gyasi, Farias/Agudelo.
SASSUOLO-MILAN
Sassuolo: Francesco Caputo and Gregoire Defrel made their long-awaited returns in Florence, but they got stymied anyway in the second half and neither looked particularly explosive. The last two matches will probably be a tune-up for both so it is tough to expect a lot. Caputo was a fantasy star to open the season with five goals and three assists. Hamed Traore filled in for Filip Djuricic there and hit the net, which could earn him more minutes as the starter has not been convincing after Coronavirus. Another subpar outing instead for Jeremie Boga. Domenico Berardi notched his fourth helper and he has been their stabilizing force while they navigated through injuries: he has also scored five times. They will not have Manuel Locatelli, so Maxime Lopez, who was spared midweek, will be their most interesting guy in the midfield.
Recommended picks: Berardi, Traore/Djuricic, Caputo.
Milan: no forward has really stepped up while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was missing, as a matter of fact they have pretty much all been scoreless in Serie A play, but the goals have kept coming thanks to defenders. Davide Calabria and Pierre Kalulu found the target in Genoa, Theo Hernandez, who missed the midweek round with fatigue, had a dazzling brace versus Parma, also Alessio Romagnoli contributed. The star striker will not return this week since he suffered a new injury. Hakan Calhanoglu has yet to score in the season but has been their most effective attacker recently and registered his fourth assist on Wednesday. Ante Rebic has been the most convincing out the rest, while Rafael Leao, Jens Petter Hauge and Brahim Diaz have not taken advantage of their opportunities. Alexis Saelemakers and Samu Castillejo are only secondary options and have bagged one goal each, while Frank Kessie is at four.
Recommended picks: Calhanoglu, Rebic, Hernandez/Kessie.
ATALANTA-ROMA
Atalanta: Alejandro Gomez is still apparently in the dog house, so it is again uncertain how many minutes he will get. Ruslan Malinovskyi did okay but was a tad imprecise in the Juventus game; he certainly never shies away from attempting shots and he hit bullseye in the previous one. Remo Freuler found the target there, no less with a scorcher, something that generally does not happen very often. They are continuing to ride Duvan Zapata despite his seemingly never-ending slump (but he has provided three assists), while Luis Muriel has been more prolific, even if playing less. Their other linchpin Robin Gosens instead returned to the stat-sheet against Fiorentina two rounds ago. Matteo Pessina has been a valuable tactical weapon but has yet to knock one on goal. It is unlikely Sam Lammers and Aleksey Miranchuk will be unleashed here.
Recommended picks: Gosens, Malinovskyi/Gomez, Muriel.
Roma: pretty much all their top weapons, but Edin Dzeko, delivered again versus Torino, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan notching his seventh goal, Jordan Veretout his sixth and Lorenzo Pellegrini his second in a row. The Italian attacker has capitalized on the move back to no.10, in lieu of Pedro, which has been hurt by the fact that they probably have more balance with Gonzalo Villar as pivot and therefore is not a lock to start in this one either, as he was initially benched midweek even though he was suspended for the previous one. Dzeko has scored four times so far. On the flanks, Leonardo Spinazzola (three helpers) continues to go like gangbusters, while Rick Karsdorp has been the better option on the right one but with limited bonuses so far.
Recommended picks: Mkhitaryan, Dzeko, Pellegrini.
LAZIO-NAPOLI
Lazio: Ciro Immobile bagged a cracking goal on a gorgeous assist by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but they were again stymied a little too easily and did not have that many chances. Luis Alberto returned and had a solid first half, where he rattled the post, but the magic is not there this season. Joaquin Correa did very little even though he was the fresher player up front, while Andreas Pereira is starting to fare better and better off the bench. Felipe Caicedo, instead, has always been a specialist in that regard and must have one of the better scoring averages in the League. Immobile has scored in six of the last seven matches, Milinkovic-Savic has logged three goals and three assists and they are squarely their best picks, the rest is kind of underwhelming.
Recommended picks: Immobile, Milinkovic-Savic, Correa.
Napoli: they played pretty well and should have gotten at least a point in San Siro, but the outlook coming off that game is bleak as Dries Mertens got hurt and Lorenzo Insigne was red-carded. They will not rush Victor Osimhen back so the next man up is Andrea Petagna, who hit the post in the big game and has recently found paydirt twice. Hirving Lozano, their most prolific player so far with six goals, and the effervescent Matteo Politano will probably feature together. Also Elijf Elmas is a candidate for a bigger role, while Piotr Zielinski has been faring strongly as trequartista, but that has not led to many bonuses.
Recommended picks: Lozano, Petagna, Politano.
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