Round 24 Matchups! Now with matchup ratings!
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EMPOLI V NAPOLI Napoli continue to roll home and away, in the league and in Europe. No injuries. No drama. Clean sailing from here on out. Empoli tend to blow hot and cold but this year has been more consistent. The draw away to Fiorentina last week keeps them on 28 points and in 12th, a full 11 points from danger. They will be missing Bandinelli this week which will hurt. Expect an early goal or two, their forte of late in the league, as NAPOLI WINS
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LECCE VS SASSUOLO Speaking of danger, this isn’t a relegation 6 pointer, but maybe we can call it a safe from relegation 6 pointer? Lecce were leaking badly til picking up 7 points from their last 3. Sassuolo had done the same thing until running into Napoli last weekend. You know my sermon on Lecce. Falcone is my lower half MVP, Hjulmand Hjolds the middle and Strefezza provides just enough magic up top to keep the goals coming. I’ve been on them since day 1 and refuse to quit them. Sassuolo are finally starting to score and despite the scoreline I thought played really well against Napoli. However they will miss LW Lauriente through a card suspension in this one. While I hope for a good game I think we might get a stale 1-1 DRAW.
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BOLOGNA V INTER Bologna have always felt like they were desperate to belong with the big boys. This is their best effort at that in years. They currently sit atop the ‘Bottom 13’ table tied with Juventus. They are doing that by racking up points against the bottom 12 teams. They have 32 points against the bottom 12 and ZERO against the top 7. ZERO! 7 games and 7 losses. Meanwhile Inter are in perhaps their best form of the year. They have wins against Atalanta, Milan and Porto in their last 5. The defense has been stellar. Lukaku might ACTUALLY be Lukaku again? I expect some goals here. As long as Radu doesn’t make an appearance in goal I say INTER WINS.
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SALERNITANA V MONZA This might be the clunker of the week. Salernitana are in dreadful form. They held out for a half against Lazio but then could have given up 5 after the interval. They have been outscored 6-0 in their last 3 and are rocketing down the table. They currently sit just 4 points ahead of Verona. Perhaps Ochoa isn’t the savior after all? Monza continue to Monza. This week they will be without 3 starters: Birindelli, Rovella and Marlon. I still think they have enough quality to get a point away to a team in free fall. Perhaps even a win? Nah. DRAW
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UDINESE V SPEZIA The league desperately needs fun time Udinese back. For the first 10 weeks they were really fun and sat in 3rd. Since then they slowly have faded all the way down to 10th. They have scored 12 goals in 13 games since then. Like I keep saying, no Deulofeu, no party. Remember when Sottil was gonna be coach of the year and my favorite little Spaniard the MVP? Good times! What better timing for Spezia to show up! They have 1 point in 5 having scored just 2 goals during that span. Of course it doesn’t help they have seen Napoli, Roma and Juve over that time. I like Spezia but it’s hard to see this matchup as anything but Udinese finding a much needed win. UDINESE WINS
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MILAN V ATALANTA GAME OF THE WEEK! Milan are in excellent form after Pioli switched things up midstream and went to a back 3. A ballsy move that has paid off with 3 straight wins and 3 straight clean sheets. And now All-Universe goalkeeper Mike Maignan returns from injury. If Milan can start to score again they will be at full pomp. Atalanta remain Jekyll and Hyde at home versus on the road. How else to explain beating Lazio 2-0 on the road and then losing to Lecce at home? They have 24 points on the road and 17 at home. Same old Atalanta. All things point to this being a great game. Expect Atalanta to break Milan’s scoreless streak but at the end of the day MILAN WINS
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HELLAS V FIORENTINA Don’t let the loss to Roma fool you, Hellas remain in good form. The defense has been much better of late (3 goals conceded in 5) which is vital for a push for survival. Montipo has been excellent in goal. They are also more fun to watch as Lazovic and Ngonge are figuring each other out. Fiorentina remain red hot in Europe while they limp along in the league. They put up 7 over 2 legs against Braga but haven’t scored more than 1 in their last 6 league games. At some point they will have to focus more on the league, right? Not this day though.
IN MY LOCK OF THE WEEK HELLAS WINS!
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LAZIO V SAMPDORIA Lazio has to win this game, right??? RIGHT? Pile on Cremonose all you want but Samp might actually be worse. Forget another coaching change, it might be time for an exorcism. Immobile scores. LAZIO WINS
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CREMONESE V ROMA Cremonese beat Roma in the Coppa 3 weeks ago. They are now 4-0 in the Coppa and 0 for the season in the league. That isn’t changing. I wanna say Roma wins. I do. Watch the lineups though. See if Dybala is starting. When he starts they average 2.2 points per game. When he doesn’t? 1.1. I don’t know that he has that kind of impact everywhere, but he’s that something special that a Mourinho team desperately needs. He’s also a guy that has to feel needed. Perfect fit.
Dybala starts and ROMA WINS. He doesn’t and it’s a DRAW
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JUVENTUS V TORINO Juve have lost this matchup exactly once since 1995. ONCE. That’s 27 wins, 8 draws and 1 loss in ALMOST 30 YEARS. It’s hard to say what that means this time around history always has weight. In the now Torino are struggling. They have 1 win in 5 including a hideous draw against Cremonese last time out. No Ola Aina hurts. Juve are rolling. They have won their last 3 in the league and just knocked out Nantes in the Europa League. It ain’t pretty but it never is with Allegri. Watching them they still don’t look anywhere near top form. Wins are wins though. Locatelli is out with a card suspension, but I’m not sure it matters. It’ll be like watching paint dry but ultimately JUVE WINS
Interesting week of matchups with the top 3 all on the road and also the big showdown between Milan and Atalanta. The league has really sorted itself out as we have Napoli, the next 5 and then just 15 points between 7 and 18.
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Happy watching!
Lisi
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