Following another busy week of European action, Serie A takes centre stage as things start to get serious for some of sides who still have much to play for.
Speaking of a side that fall into this bracket are the current champions. Since March 1990, Juventus and Udinese have not drawn a league game played in Turin, with the Old Lady managing 19 wins, and opponents Udinese winning five.
The away side have not won an away Serie A game since September against Chievo (D3 L5); failing to score in each of their last five such games.
Toward the middle of the table we find Parma who have not completed the league double over Genoa in the Italian top-flight since 1993-94.
Despite their improved form, Genoa striker Cristian Kouamé has scored just one goal and provided only one assist with Cesare Prandelli in 12 appearances, having scored three goals and served three assists in his previous 14 domestic games (with Ivan Juric and Davide Ballardini).
Down at the bottom, Chievo have not found the net in their last four league games – the Gialloblu’s worst such run in Serie A was five games between 2005 and 2012.
From the beginning of December, opponents AC Milan have conceded the fewest goals within the top five European Leagues (five), whilst only Barcelona and Liverpool (nine each) have kept more clean sheets than the Rossoneri (eight) in the same period.
Ailing Bologna have scored only one league goal in the second half since the beginning of 2019: no team has managed fewer within the top five European leagues since the turn of the year.
Leonardo Pavoletti is only the fifth player in the history of Cagliari to score 10+ goals in two consecutive Serie A seasons (after Luigi Riva, David Suazo, Robert Acquafresca and Alessandro Matri).
Fighting with their city rivals for a Champions League spot are Inter who have won 15 of their last 17 domestic games against SPAL at San Siro (D2), with the Nerazzurri scoring twice in each of the last four in this run.
Free-falling SPAL have won only two of their last 22 league games (D8 L12), and are winless in their most recent five (D2 L3).
In-form Sampdoria have won five of their last six top-flight home games (L1), keeping four clean sheets in this run.
In the three points per win era, only in three seasons have Atalanta won more than 40 points after 26 games of a Serie A campaign – each of the three under current manager Gian Piero Gasperini (in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19).
A striker who likes a road trip is Atalanta striker Duván Zapata has already scored 16 goals in Serie A this season (five more than he did in 2017-18) – 10 of his 16 goals have been scored away from home; a joint-high total, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Fabio Quagliarella.
Struggling Frosinone haven’t won any of their last 16 home games this season (D6 L10); the longest on-going run among the competition’s current teams.
Opponents Torino have kept a clean sheet in each of their last six games in Serie A; their longest ever run in a single campaign. They’re on the longest current run of any team in the top five European leagues.
Next to a team in poor form is Sassuolo who have lost five of their last six games against teams currently in the top four positions in the top-flight (D1), failing to score in the last four.
Visiting attacker José Callejón has scored four goals against Sassuolo in Serie A, only versus Lazio has he scored more (six goals). However, the Napoli striker hasn’t scored in two consecutive league matches since September 2017.
Over in Florence, hosts Fiorentina have conceded in each of their last 10 league games against Lazio (23 goals in total), having kept a clean sheet in their previous three.
Despite not hitting the heights of last season, the capital side have scored in each of their last nine league games: the last time the Biancocelesti went on a longer scoring run came back in December 2017 (run of 10).
We end in the capital where the pressure on the hosts after their late Champions League exit will be intense. A piece of much needed good news is that amongst the sides they have faced at least eight times at home in Serie A, Roma have the highest win percentage against Empoli (83%; W10 D2 L0).
The visitors will look to Francesco Caputo has scored 12 goals in 2018/19, only two players have scored more goals in their first top division season with Empoli: Antonio Di Natale in 2002/03 (13 goals) and Carmine Esposito in 1997/98 (14).
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com