All on the pitch. After the chaos of Epiphany, with four games postponed out of ten, Serie A returns to play a full round: the Lega's appeals to the various regional TARs have been successful, which is why Turin, Udinese, Bologna and Salernitana are no longer in quarantine and can face Fiorentina, Atalanta, Cagliari and Verona, albeit with some calendar changes (Turin-Fiorentina will be played tomorrow at 17pm, Cagliari-Bologna on Tuesday at 20.45pm).
Furthermore, following the phone call on Friday between Draghi and Gravina and awaiting the "table" on next Wednesday, the Council resolved that the matches of 16 and 23 January will be played with a maximum of 5 spectators in the stadiums, in the hope that after the stop for the Nationals the numbers make it possible to return at least to the 50% capacity (which will remain so today and Wednesday for the Super Cup between Inter and Juve). In short, you navigate on sight, but in the meantime you play and this, in the light of the aforementioned difficulties, is already something.
Matchday 21 revolves around Inter-Lazio (20.45 pm) e Roma-Juventus (18.30), big matches that can have a lot of impact on the standings, with Milan (in Venice at 12.30), Naples (at home against Sampdoria at 16.30) and Atalanta (in Udine at 16.30) decided to take advantage of them for their respective goals. Let's start from San Siro, where the leaders return to the field after the forced stop on Thursday: the primacy, at least virtually, is still well established, but there is the possibility that at 20.45, if Milan conquer Venice, the Nerazzurri will be in second place, with all the pressure load that this entails.
Inzaghi, yesterday in press silence, hopes that the long break hasn't interrupted the magic of the last period, in which his team managed to win 7 in a row, 6 without conceding a goal. Very important numbers that earned him the championship lead, but which will also be confirmed in the next month, when Inter will face a series of direct clashes that could prove to be decisive, in one sense or another.
We start today with Lazio's Sarri, too distant to compete in the Scudetto key, but still insidious in the one-off match: after all, the Nerazzurri's only defeat in the league came in the first leg. A match that promises to be crackling, between two teams that score a lot (it is no coincidence that Inter have the first attack, the Biancocelesti the third) and who want to challenge each other head-on, without calculations of any kind. Inzaghi finds Dzeko again after the positivity to Covid (only for the bench), but he has to give up Calhanoglu again, given that the postponement of Bologna has also postponed the disqualification. His 3-5-2 will see Handanovic in goal, Skriniar, De Vrij and Bastoni in defense, Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Vidal and Perisic in midfield, Sanchez and Lautaro in attack. Classic 4-3-3 also for Sarri, who will respond with Strakosha between the posts, Hysaj, Luiz Felipe, Radu and Marusic in the back department, Milinkovic-Savic, Cataldi and Basic in the midfield, Felipe Anderson, Immobile and Pedro in the offensive trident.
The other big match today is that of the Olimpico, where Roma and Juventus will try to bring the Champions League zone closer together, allowing Atalanta and Fiorentina. The draw, standings in hand, is of little use to both, but be it Mourinho that Allegri are certainly not going through a brilliant period, which is why it is difficult to overreach and make predictions. “I knew this would be a year of growth and changes to get back in the fight for the Scudetto in one or two seasons – glossed over the Juventus coach, disqualified today for having insulted the referee on Thursday -. This is always Roma-Juventus, a difficult match because they have excellent players. Then Mourinho in moments of difficulty, like now after the defeat in Milan, will prepare for a great match: it's another direct match, you have to prepare as best you can".
The Special One probably thinks the same too (yesterday, after the outbursts at San Siro, no press conference), which is why a very interesting challenge is expected at the Olimpico. Allegri should give Morata a rest and deploy a 4-3-3 with Szczesny in goal, Cuadrado, Rugani, De Ligt and De Sciglio in defense, Bentancur, Locatelli and McKennie in midfield, Dybala, Kean and Chiesa in attack. Mou's problem, in addition to the disqualifications of Mancini and Karsdorp, is called Zaniolo, excluded from training following a positive swab: the confidentiality is total, but the feeling is that he won't be there tonight. In any case, the game system will not change, therefore 3-5-2 with Rui Patricio between the posts, Kumbulla, Smalling and Ibanez in the back department, Maitland-Niles (just arrived from Arsenal), Pellegrini, Cristante, Veretout and Vina in the median, Mkhitaryan and Abraham offensive pair.
They hope to take advantage of these direct clashes first of all Milan e Napoli, engaged in two more affordable challenges with Venice and Sampdoria. But woe to resting on your laurels: the Venetians, in the Penzo basin, have already played tricks in series (Fiorentina, Roma and Juventus) and the Azzurri still have the missteps in mind with Empoli and Spezia. “Venezia is a well-trained, fast, technical team: we need a high-level performance – confirmed Pioli -. We'll see at the end of the day what we and our opponents have managed to do, but the path is ours: we want to win matches and then draw conclusions”.
Compared to Thursday there are no recoveries to report, so the coach will be forced again into an emergency 4-2-3-1 with Maignan in goal, Florenzi, Kalulu, Gabbia and Hernandez in defence, Tonali and Bakayoko in midfield, Saelemaekers , Diaz and Leao behind the lone striker Ibrahimovic. Zanetti will respond with a 4-3-3 with Romero in goal, Mazzocchi, Svoboda, Ceccaroni and Haps in the back, Cuisance, Ampadu and Busio in the midfield, Aramu, Henry and Okereke in the offensive trident. Napoli also hope to win and shorten the standings, although the emergency is even greater than in Turin: yesterday Zielinski also tested positive for Covid, who therefore will not be in the match.
Spalletti, also in solitary confinement, will field a 4-2-3-1 with Ospina in goal, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus and Ghoulam in defense, Demme and Lobotka in midfield, Politano, Elmas and Insigne (by the way: yesterday the his move to Toronto has become official) behind lone striker Mertens. Classic 4-4-2 for D'Aversa, who will try to redeem the defeat against Cagliari by relying on Audero between the posts, Dragusin, Ferrari, Chabot and Murru in the back, Bereszynski, Ekdal, Thorsby and Askildsen in the midfield, Gabbiadini and Caputo in attack.
