After the international break, Serie A makes its much-awaited return this weekend, with the headlining match without question Jose Mourinho’s return to San Siro as his Roma side take on Inter Milan.
The Nerazzurri have been in rocky form to start the season, and Mourinho will be all too keen to heap more misery onto his old club, not to mention get Roma back on track after their own recent disappointing Serie A 2022 results.
Juventus will also be in the spotlight as they look to recover from their shock defeat, while high-flying Atalanta face off with Fiorentina, who are looking to extend their win streak against La Dea.
Read on below as SBOTOP lists down the three biggest matches to look forward to in this upcoming Serie A matchweek.
Inter Milan vs Roma: Mourinho still searching for win over old club
Former Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho returns to San Siro this weekend as he leads his Roma side against struggling Inter Milan.
Simone Inzaghi’s side suffered a heavy 3-1 defeat to Udinese before the international break. It was their third loss of the season as they remain down in seventh.
Mourinho’s Roma haven’t had particularly good results themselves. Aside from also suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat to Udinese, they lost 1-0 to high-flying Atalanta despite absolutely dominating that match.
Roma are expected to have Paulo Dybala back after the Argentine playmaker missed the Atalanta defeat due to injury. Dybala had desired a move to Inter this summer but the two sides could not come to a deal, so that will add another dimension to this already spicy matchup.
Mourinho will be desperate to finally get one over on Inter. He met his former club three times last season – twice in the league and once in the cup – but lost all three times, all of which were by two or more goals.
Juventus vs Bologna: Old Lady need to win one
Juventus are in the midst of a massive slump. They have picked up just one win in their last eight games in all competitions and are winless in their last three in Serie A.
The Old Lady suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat away to newly promoted Monza before the break, which put even more pressure on coach Massimiliano Allegri. Juve were down to 10 men for over half the match after Angel Di Maria received a straight red card.
Both Di Maria and Juan Cuadrado will now be suspended when they take on Bologna this weekend in what feels like a must-win match for them. Although, midfielders Manuel Locatelli and Adrien Rabiot could be in line to return from their respective injuries.
Bologna boast Serie A’s current leading scorer, Marko Arnautovic, who has already provided plenty of Serie A 2022 highlights with 7 goals this season. However, the Rossoblu are struggling at the moment as they lie in 16th, just two points above the relegation zone.
The Serie A 2022 betting odds will significantly favour Juve to end their winless drought against Bologna. But the Bianconeri are quite low on confidence at the moment, so a Juve win is far from a certainty.
Atalanta vs Fiorentina: Interesting clash of styles
Atalanta and Fiorentina are two fascinating and contrasting teams. Second-place Atalanta are significantly overperforming their underlying numbers (their expected goal difference or xGD is +2.8, well below their actual GD of +8) while Fiorentina in 10th are underperforming their numbers (+2.6 xGD to +1 actual GD).
By those numbers, this seems to be quite an even battle between two of the better sides in Serie A. Gian Piero Gasperini is doing another wonderful job with La Dea, who are performing well without the ball. Meanwhile, Vincenzo Italiano continues to transform the Viola, who lead Serie A in possession percentage.
So this will be quite an interesting clash of styles between Fiorentina’s growing possession system and Atalanta’s counterattacking game.
The two sides met three times last season – twice in the league and once in the cup – and the Viola were victorious in all three matches. Although, strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Krzysztof Piatek, who scored five of their six goals in those three games, are no longer with the club.
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