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Italian football championship, Serie A continues with games of the 10th round, which will be played according to the following schedule (CET):
Saturday, October 27, 2018
15:00 Atalanta - Parma
18:00 Empoli - Juventus
20:30 Torino - Fiorentina
Sunday, October 8 2018
12:30 Sassuolo - Bologna
15:00 Cagliari - Chievo Verona
15:00 Genoa - Udinese
15:00 Spal - Frosinone
18:00 Milan - Sampdoria
20:30 Napoli - Roma
Monday, October 29, 2018
20:30 Lazio - Inter
Let's look in short details what we can expect of the games that will be played on Saturday:
Atalanta - Parma
Atalanta is not even close to the excellent results from the previous season's 7th placed finish. With only two victories in nine games, they are 16 points behind Juventus and only three points above the relegation zone.
Playing at home, they started with a convincing victory against Frosinone, but they won only one point in the following three home matches. The good thing in those matches was their solid defence. On the other hand, they scored only one goal in the previous three games at home. Two players will miss this game, both due to injuries - Masiello and Varnier.
Parma have been in slightly better form, having four points more than Atalanta. They won more points away than Atalanta at home, thanks to two victories - at Inter and Genoa. Parma has had a very tough schedule in the first nine rounds.
Thus far, three of their four defeats have been against Juventus, Napoli and Lazio. They have all players available for this game in Bergamo. The outcome of their matches against each other in Bergamo is favourable for Atalanta, but not convincing.
The last visit of Parma to Atalanta was in October of 2014 when the hosts achieved a narrow 1-0 victory. Regardless of their poor form, Atalanta is being favoured by the bookies. All in all, a draw looks like a probable outcome.
Empoli - Juventus
With an awful series of results behind them, most people would not consider Empoli to be a serious threat to the most powerful team in Serie A.
They have suffered five defeats in their first nine appearances, including a draw against Arezzo in a friendly game. Their output at home has been winless after the 2-0 victory against Cagliari, but they had very strong opponents in the last three rounds at their stadium.
Empoli lost both games in Rome, against Lazio and Roma, while playing out a 1-1 draw at Milan. Polvani is not available for the game due to his knee injury, while Rodriguez and Veseli are question marks, also due to injuries.
Juventus have played excellent so far, with the exception of the game against Genoa, which ended in a 2-2 draw. The match at the Old Trafford showed that one bad day does not affect players negatively. Khedira and Mandzukic are out due to injuries. That is why we will probably see Dybala and Ronaldo together in the starting line-up again.
Recently, they played three mutual games in Empoli, and Juventus won all three. However, not only in the recent games, performance in these encounters has been more convincing on the Juventus side.
Torino - Fiorentina
Torino again has high ambitions in Serie A, of course, not more than a qualification to the Europa League. Currently, they are only one point behind the Europa League spots on the league table.
They have stabilized their form lately, achieving two victories and a couple of draws in the previous four rounds. Their output at home has not been that good since they suffered two defeats in four games.
However, strong opponents could be a mild justification - Napoli and Roma. The Bulls are almost complete for this game, with only Lyanco is absent due to his foot injury, while Ansaldi is a question mark because of problems with his knee.
It is precisely Fiorentina that are holding the last Europa League qualifying place. Yet, their ambitions are significantly higher. However, with poor performances in away games, they cannot get much far.
In 4 away matches, they have won only one point (1-1 at Sampdoria). However, all three defeats were at very strong opponents - Napoli, Inter and Lazio. They go to Turin without much trouble with respect to the injuries.
Only Norgaard is questionable due to his knee injury. Fiorentina has been more successful against Torino lately. They won both games last season. As for the current fixture history, Torino won only twice in the previous 10 encounters. Fiorentina achieved four victories in the same period, while four games saw no winner.
