Venezia v Sampdoria

Although a lot of the watching eyes on Serie A this weekend will be fixed on Sunday evening’s Derby della Capitale, there’s a game of almost equal importance at the bottom in the fight against relegation as Sampdoria travel across Northern Italy to face Venezia.

The Arancioneroverde come into this weekend having lost each of their last three in Serie A, while Sampdoria are unbeaten in seven consecutive games against newly promoted sides, but they’re unlikely to have it all their own way in Veneto this weekend.

Marco Giampaolo’s side have managed just one clean sheet in their last five – against Empoli – and conceded three against Juventus, two against Udinese, four against Atalanta, and once against AC Milan. 

Venezia, for their part, have conceded in each of their last 11 at home. Only once in their history have they had a longer run of conceding at home – 12 consecutive games between March 1950 and November 1961. Their last clean sheet either at home or away came in a 1-0 win at Bologna in November.

With both Fabio Quagliarella and Francesco ‘Ciccio’ Caputo expected to start for Samp, the visitors will back themselves to get at least one against their hosts, though they’ll have to hope that they can keep them out at the other end.

Empoli v Verona

Empoli’s form has been in free-fall after a bright start to the season and only Venezia have a worse record than the Tuscans in 2022, so Aurelio Andreazzoli would have preferred to host most Serie A sides other than Verona, who themselves sit sixth in the calendar year’s form table.

Their Serie A history makes this one a hard to call, with each having won four times in their nine previous top-flight meetings, though the Tuscans are unbeaten at home against the Mastini. 

Having lost to Napoli last time out, Igor Tudor will be hoping his side get back on track at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, and they’ll back themselves to find the net as they have done at least that in each of their last five.

Although Empoli are risking chaining together three straight Serie A games without scoring for the first time since 2017, they’ll be heartened by Verona’s slightly shaky defensive record. The Gialloblu have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 18 matches on the road in Serie A, only having put together longer such runs twice in their recent history – 22 between 1992 and 1997, and 19 between 2000 and 2001.

Should Verona find the net, Giovanni Simeone is likely to play a part as he continues his impressive season.

Juventus v Salernitana

Juventus know that only a win – and likely a comfortable one – will suffice as they host basement dwellers Salernitana to the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Sunday. Having been humiliated at home by Villarreal in their midweek Champions League elimination, the Old Lady will want to put those memories into the past at the earliest possible chance.

They should do just that against Salernitana, despite Milan having struggled against the Campania side and dropping points against them in recent weeks. 

With the Granata having Serie A’s worst attack – scoring just 22 goals all season – they’re not going to have it easy against a Bianconeri defence that has proven tough to overcome in recent weeks, and Juventus have picked up more points than anybody in Italy since the beginning of December, still unbeaten in Serie A since their loss to Atalanta in November. What’s perhaps worse is that Juve have conceded just once in five Serie A meetings with Sunday’s opponents. 

Juventus can expect Alvaro Morata or Dusan Vlahovic to be involved in their own goals. The Serbian has ten goals in his last eight league outings, while Morata could score for the third consecutive game for the first time in Serie A, last doing so as an Atletico Madrid player in November 2019 – then scoring in four straight matches.

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Roma v Lazio

Lazio are hoping to win back-to-back derbies in Serie A for the first time since November 2012 as they face Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Sunday evening’s Derby della Capitale. 

With each of the two sides fully engaged in the race to qualify for next season’s Europa League, there’s a lot riding on this derby, but Roma haven’t lost at home against the Biancocelesti since 2017. Lazio, though, have won two of the last three and that’s as many as they had managed in their previous 15 encounters. 

Although Lazio have kept more clean sheets than anyone in Serie A this calendar year – only bettered in Europe’s top-five league’s by Real Sociedad (seven to Lazio’s six) – they’re coming up against a frontline in form and they’ll have to be at their best to keep tabs on Tammy Abraham.

At the other end, though, Ciro Immobile recently became Lazio’s all-time record goalscorer in Serie A and he will be desperate to build on that in his final outing before the international break, keen to force his way into Roberto Mancini’s Italy XI for their crucial World Cup qualification play-offs. His record against Roma is good, having scored four times in derbies against them, a record that only Silvio Piola (six) and Tommaso Rocchi (five) better.

Bologna v Atalanta

Atalanta have had mixed form domestically this season – and particularly this year – and will no doubt be tired as they make the trip to Emilia-Romagna to take on Bologna in Sunday’s late game, having sealed their place in the Europa League quarter-finals with a win at Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

Then, it took a 90th-minute strike from Jeremie Boga to seal the result, so Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were never able to take their foot off the gas in Germany. As a result, tired legs might be on show.

Atalanta have a record of going away to Bologna and struggling after big European nights too, having fallen to a surprise loss there in 2019/20 just days after they qualified from their Champions League group for the first time in their history. That 2-1 defeat, though, is the only of their last 12 against the Rossoblu that they’ve lost, winning nine and drawing the other two.

Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men haven’t scored in either of their last two against Atalanta – last recording a longer goalless run against them between 1973 and 1978. But Mihajlovic frustrated La Dea with a 0-0 draw in Bergamo earlier this season, and he has a better record against Gasperini than against any other coach – winning five of his 18 games against the former Genoa boss.

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