Serie A Matchday 9: Who plays who, when and where?

With Roma heading to Naples to face Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli on Sunday, here’s how Matchday 9 of the 2020-21 Serie A campaign looks in Italy this weekend.

SATURDAY 28 NOVEMBER

Sassuolo v Inter Milan
Mapei Stadium, 15:00 CET

One of just three unbeaten teams left in Serie A this season, Sassuolo will leapfrog Inter’s city rivals Milan into top spot if they win on Saturday afternoon and will be confident of their chances with top-scorer Francesco Caputo expected to return after missing the win at Verona last week.

Fifth going into Matchday 9, Inter could move above Sassuolo with victory at the Mapei but, to do so, they must quickly pick themselves up from Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid that leaves them on the brink of a group stage exit.

Benevento v Juventus
Ciro Vigorito, 18:00 CET

The 1-0 win at Fiorentina last time out - courtesy of Riccardo Improta’s first Serie A goal - stopped the Benevento rot by ending a run of four league defeats on the spin but they will need to be at their best to beat Juve for the first time in the club’s history.

Juventus are another of the remaining unbeaten Serie A trio and they also safely secured their passage to the Champions League knockout stages this week, but Andrea Pirlo’s men may again be forced to play right-back Danilo in central defence with Matthijs de Ligt their only fit recognised centre-back.

Atalanta v Hellas Verona
Gewiss Stadium, 20:45 CET

Despite injuries to Mattia Caldara, Fabio Depaoli, Ruslan Malinovskyi and Mario Pasalic, Atalanta claimed a famous 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield in midweek - perfect preparation for Saturday as they aim to end a two-game winless run in the league, albeit both have been draws.

It’s not been the best of weeks for Verona who - following their 2-0 defeat at home to Sassuolo, where they hit the woodwork four times - were dumped out of the Coppa Italia courtesy of a 93rd-minute Riccardo Sottil strike for Cagliari, and they have also lost former Roma man Nikola Kalinic to injury.

SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER

Lazio v Udinese
Stadio Olimpico, 12:30 CET

Unbeaten in four in the league, Simone Inzaghi’s side will be relieved to have Ciro Immobile back in the squad and firing as he hit two goals in their Champions League victory over Zenit this week.

Captain Rodrigo de Paul’s effort gave Udinese a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Genoa last weekend to move out of the bottom-three for the first time since being sent there by the 1-0 defeat to Roma on Matchday 3 and they have kept clean sheets in each of their last two.

Bologna v Crotone
Renato Dall’ara, 15:00 CET

Quite remarkably, Bologna have now gone 41 Serie A games without a clean sheet but this could be the week to end that miserable run having won two of their last three and Crotone currently two games without a goal.

Crotone are still without a win in 2020-21 (D2, L6) and their hopes of survival are already looking slim with the matchdays still in single figures.

AC Milan v Fiorentina
Giuseppe Meazza, 15:00 CEST

Milan remain both top and unbeaten, fired by the age-defying efforts of Zlatan Ibrahimovic - who now has 10 goals in just six Serie A appearances this season. He will be fresh for the visit of Fiorentina having sat out the 1-1 Europa League draw in Lille on Thursday.

Franck Ribery and Giacomo Bonaventura are injury concerns having missed the 1-0 Coppa Italia victory at Udinese on Wednesday, which was Cesare Prandelli’s first victory back in the Fiorentina hot seat after his second Serie A coming at the Artemio Franchi ended in a 1-0 loss to Benevento.

Cagliari v Spezia
Sardegna Arena, 15:00 CET

Cagliari will be fairly happy to be mid-table at this stage of the campaign but defeat to Juve on week eight was followed by news that star striker Giovanni Simeone joins Diego Godin in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus.

Spezia are enjoying themselves at the minute having lost just once in their last five in Serie A, earned clean sheets in both of the last two in the league and dispatched Bologna 4-2 in the cup in the week.

Napoli v Roma
San Paolo, 20:45

Naples has been in mourning since the tragic passing of former Napoli hero Diego Maradona and were it not for coronavirus there would be an outpouring of emotion in the San Paolo stands this weekend - as there was in midweek - and Gennaro Gattuso’s side will be desperate to honour the Argentine’s legacy with a victory.

It leaves free-scoring Roma primed to play the role of party poopers and, should results elsewhere go their way, they could end the weekend top if they manage a fourth successive Serie A win - but there will be concerns at centre-half with a number of first-team players out, although captain Edin Dzeko is back in contention.

MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER

Torino v Sampdoria
Olimpico Grande Torino, 18:30 CET

Five games without a victory in Serie A (D2, L3), Torino did see off Serie B outfit Virtus Entella 2-0 on Thursday in the Coppa Italia - but they will be worrying over the knocks picked up by Andrea Belotti and Simone Verdi in last Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Inter that saw both miss that win.

After three wins in a row from Matchday 3-5, La Samp have now gone three in the league without picking up three points (D1, L2) and threw away a one-goal lead as they were dumped out of the cup by Derby della Lanterna rivals Genoa on Thursday to make matters worse.

Genoa v Parma
Luigi Ferraris, 20:45 CET

Gianluca Scamacca was the star of Genoa’s derby win - scoring two and creating another - and the hosts will be hoping he can transition that form into the league, where Rolando Maran’s team haven’t won since the opening day.

Parma also secured a spot in the last-16 of the Coppa Italia this week and, like Genoa, also have a sole league win to their name so far - but they do sit one point above the home side, with the Gialloblu precariously placed one spot above the relegation zone.