I took my eye off the ball this week and didn’t notice that there was midweek action in Serie A on Wednesday. The results were as follows:
Fiorentina 2 - 1 Napoli
Chievo 1 - 1 Lecce
Sampdoria 3 - 1 Lazio
Udinese 2 - 1 Juventus
Catania 0 - 2 Internazionale
Milan 1 - 1 Genoa
Atalanta 0 - 1 Bologna
Cagliari 1 - 0 Siena
Torino 0 - 0 Reggina
Roma 2 - 1 Palermo
Inter stretched their lead to 6 points after Juventus lost, and Milan’s draw with Genoa leaves them further off the pace. Roma have steamed into a UEFA cup spot and there was a vital win for Sampdoria. All of which means, round 22 shapes up like this:
Saturday Jan 31
17:00 Napoli v Udinese
19:30 Juventus v Cagliari
Sunday February
14:00 Atalanta v Catania
14:00 Bologna v Fiorentina
14:00Siena v Lecce
14:00 Genoa v Palermo
14:00 Reggina v Roma
14:00 Chievo v Sampdoria
14:00 Internazionale v Torino
19:30 Lazio v Milan
On Saturday, Napoli have the chance to get back to winning ways having only collected 3 points from a possible 15 recently. They will do so, however, against an Udinese team that beat Juventus on Wednesday to record their first win in 11 matches which has taken Pasquale Merino’s men back to the relative sanctuary of 12th.
Juventus were awful on Wednesday with Sebastian Giovinco copping the most flak, and he will most likely be replaced by Alessandro Del Pierro for their home clash with Cagliari. This will be no walkover for the Gobbini as the Sardinians are unbeaten in 2009 and have collected 10 from a possible 12 since the new year, with the strikers Jeda and Acquafresca in enviable form.
On Sunday two Jekyll-and-Hyde teams Atalanta and Catania, clash at the Azzuri d’Italia with just a point separating them. On their day, both these teams can beat the best but those afternoons do not come frequently enough – although Atalanta’s home form should tell in this case. Fiorentina visit Bologna looking to keep their European credentials intact, although the Rossoblu bounced back from their Milan beating last week to win at Atalanta to put 5 points between them and the drop zone. Siena and Lecce meet at the Artemio Franchi with the visitors desperate to pull away as well, while Reggina, in some trouble at the bottom, welcome Roma who are quite simply red hot, having taken 19 points from their previous 8 games.
Genoa, who are European contenders depending on whether Diego Milito scores, entertain Palermo and Chievo host Sampdoria. Jose Mourinho will be without Sulley Muntari and Adriano (both suspended) for the visit of Torino but only a miracle will enable Walter Novellino’s team to gain so much as a point. Rounding off the weekend Lazio host Milan, the visitors are unlikely to have David Beckham, as well as being without Maldini or Flamini. But with Lazio continuing to struggle after their brilliant start, the Rossoneri will still be confident of gaining three points from their trip to the capital.
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