MY ACCOUNT
Three points are a must for the likes of Napoli, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus in Serie A’s first full midweek fixture list of the season.
Milan kick off the action with a visit to Sassuolo, while Juve can ill afford to drop more points when Spezia are in town on Wednesday night.
And Thursday sees two of the league’s eight unbeaten teams meet when Torino make the trip to Atalanta.
Game of the week: Juventus vs Spezia (Wednesday, 7.45pm)
The visit of Spezia should hand Juventus the perfect chance to put back-to-back draws with Sampdoria and Roma behind them.
Juve have won all four of their Serie A games against the minnows, while the Aquilotti lost 3-0 at Inter Milan in their only away game this term, though they did draw 2-2 with Sassuolo on Saturday.
Massimiliano Allegri will know the importance of improving the Old Lady’s recent home form too, with only two wins in their last six games at the Allianz Arena.
Only Atalanta (none) and Verona (one) have won fewer times on their own patch than the 36-time champions since the start of April.
Star striker Dusan Vlahovic has netted three goals in three games for Juve this term and loves playing against Spezia.
He is averaging a goal every 84 minutes against them, including a hat-trick for Fiorentina in a 3-0 win last October.
Sassuolo vs AC Milan (Tuesday, 5.30pm)
AC Milan return to the scene of last season’s title triumph when they visit Sassuolo in the first game of the midweek fixture list.
The Rossoneri like playing at the Mapei Stadium too with six consecutive victories there — they have never won seven away games in a row at a top-flight opponent.
In fact, should they avoid defeat for a 20th successive Serie A game, they will equal their second-longest unbeaten run in the three points for a win era.
Olivier Giroud scored in the 2-0 win over Bologna on Saturday and netted a brace in the 3-0 win here in May, but Sassuolo striker Dominic Berardi has 10 goals against Milan, more than any other Serie A side.
Inter Milan vs Cremonese (Tuesday, 7.45pm)
Cremonese’s tough start to life back in Serie A for the first time in 26 years continues with the short trip to Inter.
While the Milan outfit have won two and lost one of their opening three games, the top-flight new boys have lost to Fiorentina, Roma and Torino.
Given Inter have won each of their last eight games against recently promoted sides, it looks a tough task for I Grigiorossi.
And Inter striker Lautaro Martinez loves playing teams after they come up from Serie B, with 12 goals and four assists in his past 13 matches against them.
Napoli vs Lecce (Wednesday, 7.45pm)
Early leaders Napoli will look to get back on the winning trail against a Lecce side still searching for their first victory back in Serie A.
Luciano Spalletti’s side drew 0-0 at Fiorentina last time out to make it five clean sheets in their past six league games, as many as they had managed in their previous 24.
Though they failed to score at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, they have never gone two matches without a goal under Spalletti and striker Victor Osimhen has five strikes in eight against promoted sides.
The omens are bad for Lecce if they are defeated in Napoli — on the three previous occasions they have only picked up one point from their opening four games, they have been relegated.
Atalanta vs Torino (Thursday, 7.45pm)
There are eight unbeaten teams in Serie A after three games and two of them play each other when Atalanta host Torino on Thursday.
It has been far from home comforts for the Nerazzurri, who have not won at the Gewiss Stadium in their last seven attempts.
Given Torino are on a run of four away wins in a row and have not tasted defeat in Bergamo since 2018, the omens are good for Ivan Juric’s side.
There should be goals on the menu with 35 scored in the last six matches between the pair — that average of 5.8 is higher than any other played at least three times in that period.
Other midweek fixtures
Roma vs Monza (Tuesday, 7.45pm)
Empoli vs Hellas Verona (Wednesday, 5.30pm)
Sampdoria vs Lazio (Wednesday, 5.30pm)
Udinese vs Fiorentina (Wednesday, 5.30pm)
Bologna vs Salernitana (Thursday, 7.45pm)
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