The Push Towards Safety in Serie A
The first match of the weekend in Serie A takes place on Saturday evening when Bologna host Genoa at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
Both teams have a decent cushion over the relegation zone and come into this match with 30 points from twenty-five games played. This leaves them 13 points clear of 18th place SPAL and a win in this game will surely be enough to ensure survival this season.
In fact, if there is a winner from this game, a top half finish could become a possibility for that team.
Bologna come into this match having picked up a 2-1 won over Sassuolo last weekend. That match was played at home and was the first time Bologna have won in four games, having lost their previous three Serie A games.
There were defeats at home to Fiorentina and away to Napoli and Inter Milan. While there is no disgrace in losing to these teams, Bologna cannot afford to go on a losing streak of games again if they want to remain clear of the bottom three.
Bologna have been struggling to pick up wins in-front of their own fans this season and have won just four home league games. However, they have won two of their last three at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara and will be hoping to make it two wins in a row for this first time this season.
Bologna have scored in all but one of their last ten home Serie A games but have also conceded in five of the last six.
Genoa have been enjoying a great run of form in Serie A and have won each of their last three matches. There have been wins at Lazio and Chievo Verona and last week they enjoyed a good home victory over Inter Milan.
Defensively, Genoa have been very good this season and trends show they have conceded 25 goals in twenty-five league games at an average of 1 goal per game. Only Inter Milan, Roma, Juventus and Napoli have conceded fewer goals.
However, their defensive prowess has come at a cost in the attacking third and Genoa have scored an average of 0.84 goals per game in Serie A, with only Sassuolo and Benevento scoring fewer.
Away from home, Genoa have lost just one of their last seven Serie A games, with the defeat coming at the hands of the defending champions, Juventus.
Looking ahead to the team news and Bologna will be without Simone Verdi, Rodrigo Palacio and Angelo Da Costa who are injured. Sebastian De Maio is suspended but Bologna have some first-choice defenders returning to the team.
Genoa will also be missing a few players and joining Giuseppe Rossi on the treatment table are Miguel Veloso, Armando Izzo and Davide Biraschi. Andrej Galabinov may come into the team to replace Adel Taarabt who is struggling for fitness.
This is an intriguing game and the winner could go on to do well for the remainder of the season. Genoa are in the better form of the two teams and will be looking to keep things tight in this game, as they have done for much of the campaign.
We could see a Genoa win and under 2.5 goals in this match.
Home
Football 
Basketball
Hockey
American Football
Baseball
Rugby
Volleyball
Handball
Esoccer
