Inter Milan vs Brescia
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Wednesday, 01-07-2020 @8:30pm
Inter scraped victory at Parma with two late headers, but host a Brescia side who have been tough to beat since the lockdown ended.
Antonio Conte suffered in the stands as his Nerazzurri fought back from a Gervinho counter-attack and narrowly avoided going further behind at the Stadio Tardini, until defenders Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni used their heads in the final 10 minutes.
Milan Skriniar continues his three-match ban, so Diego Godin should retain his spot in the back three, but Marcelo Brozovic is still probably not ready to start.
Brescia have been more resilient under Diego Lopez, but not necessarily fortunate, held to draws by Fiorentina and Genoa after taking the lead. Mario Balotelli is frozen out yet again and has seemingly played his last game for the club, but the problems are in defence, where Andrea Cistana, Jhon Chancellor and Dimitri Bisoli are injured. Sandro Tonali hopes to inspire against what many expect to be his next club.
Inter are unbeaten in their last nine meetings with newly-promoted sides, winning eight and drawing the most recent with Lecce in January.
Bologna vs Cagliari
Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Bologna
Wednesday, 01-07-2020 @8:30pm
There is only one point separating these teams in mid-table and a late Europa League push is not entirely out of the question.
The Sardinians are starting to find their groove under new coach Walter Zenga, who had to wait three months to make his debut after replacing Rolando Maran in March. They’ve now won two on the bounce, a last-gasp Giovanni Simeone strike away to SPAL and entertaining 4-2 thriller with Torino.
Bologna got themselves back on track with a hard-fought 2-1 victory away to Sampdoria, inspired by ex-Atalanta striker Musa Barrow and winger Riccardo Orsolini. They should again lead the way for Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side, with veteran Rodrigo Palacio for balance.
While Cagliari keep faith with teenage defender Andrea Carboni, there’s a departure already, as goalkeeper Robin Olsen refused to see out the rest of the season on loan and insisted on returning to Roma early.
Bologna have set a new club record by conceding in their last 13 Serie A home fixtures, having previously managed 12 in 1956 and 2009.
SPAL vs AC Milan
Stadio Paolo Mazza, Ferrara
Wednesday, 01-07-2020 @10:45pm
Milan have finally found their form with Ante Rebic as a prolific centre-forward, but Lucas Paqueta could get a rare start against relegation favourites SPAL.
Stefano Pioli has been reticent to rotate his squad considering their impressive recent record, beating Lecce 4-1 and Roma 2-0, but Giacomo Bonaventura and Simon Kjaer could be rested in favour of Paqueta and Matteo Gabbia. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is expected to at least be on the bench after his recent calf injury, but will find trouble breaking back into a side that is working so well in his absence.
SPAL are rock bottom along with Brescia and look frankly doomed to the drop by this stage, already eight points adrift of safety. Dias Felipe is suspended in defence, with Ervin Zukanovic, Federico Di Francesco and goalkeeper Etrit Berisha injured.
Coach Gigi Di Biagio may well start to pick and choose his games now, resting Andrea Petagna, Gabriel Strefezza and Arkadiusz Reca for the next trip to Sampdoria.
SPAL have lost each of the last eight Serie A meetings with Milan.
Hellas Verona vs Parma
Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi, Verona
Wednesday, 01-07-2020@10:45pm
These sides are locked together on 39 points and both fuming after conceding late goals at the weekend, as this becomes a Europa League showdown for Verona and Parma.
Hellas haven’t quite seemed like their old selves since returning from the lockdown, as after a hard-fought win over Cagliari, they lost to Napoli and were pegged back at the last second by Sassuolo for a 3-3 thriller at the weekend. That result was particularly infuriating for Ivan Juric, as his men had been 3-1 up.
Parma are in a similar boat, having dominated the first half with Inter only to pay for missed opportunities, conceding two headers in the last 10 minutes to lose 2-1. Juraj Kucka was sent off for dissent and will be suspended here, as will Marash Kumbulla and coach Juric in the Verona camp.
Andreas Cornelius has contributed to seven of Parma’s last nine goals, scoring five and assisting two.
Lecce vs Sampdoria
Stadio Comunale Via del Mare, Lecce
Wednesday, 01-07-2020 @10:45pm
This is going to be a relegation six-pointer, as Sampdoria are one point above both the bottom three and Lecce’s current position, so that could all change here.
A victory would allow the Salentini to leapfrog their more illustrious opponents in the table and clamber out of the bottom three. They desperately need that boost after conceding eight goals in their two games since the lockdown, hammered by Milan and Juventus, but Samp are perhaps more on their level.
In fact, if we go back to March and February, Lecce have conceded an extraordinary 19 goals in their last four games.
Claudio Ranieri’s Blucerchiati keep threatening to do well only to fall apart, as they’ve lost all three matches by 2-1 scorelines since returning to the pitch.
Missing top scorer Fabio Quagliarella does not help, and he is joined by Lorenzo Tonelli and Alex Ferrari on the treatment table.
Sampdoria are unbeaten at the Stadio Via del Mare since 1991, winning six of their last seven visits and drawing the other.
Fiorentina vs Sassuolo
Artemio Franchi, Florence
Wednesday, 01-07-2020 @10:45pm
Sassuolo are seemingly a guarantee of goals at the moment, both for and against, so there should be fireworks against a furious Fiorentina.
The Neroverdi extended their contract with coach Roberto De Zerbi this week and he has always been in favour of attacking football. That was evident in two consecutive 3-3 draws, fighting back for a point against Inter and Hellas Verona. They are definitely not dull and are weakened defensively anyway by the absence of Marlon, Jeremy Toljan and Filippo Romagna.
Fiorentina are still fuming after their controversial 2-1 defeat to Lazio, with a very dubious penalty. Further dampening their enthusiasm are bans for Martin Caceres and Dusan Vlahovic, but Federico Chiesa does return from suspension to join on-form veteran Franck Ribery.
Fiorentina have won just three out of their 14 Serie A home games this season, drawing six and losing five. The only campaigns where they did worse were two wins in 14 in 1937-38 and 1970-71.
The other upcoming Serie A fixtures and Results
Thursday, 02-07-2020
-Atalanta vs Napoli @8:30pm
-AS Roma vs Cagliari @10:45pm
Tuesday, 31-06-2020
-Torino 1-2 Lazio
-Genoa 1-3 Juventus
