Serie A Matchday 7: Who plays who, when and where?

Roma travel to Genoa on Sunday, with Paulo Fonseca’s men looking to head into the international break with a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

Here’s how the entirety of Matchday 7 looks in Italy this weekend…

FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER

Sassuolo v Udinese
Mapei Stadium, 20:45 CET

Still unbeaten (W4, D2) and sitting two points off leaders AC Milan in second, Sassuolo could leapfrog themselves into top spot with victory on Friday night; a prospect boosted by the likely returns of Domenico Berardi and Francesco Caputo, who sat out the 2-0 win over Napoli last weekend.

The visitors are also second, albeit second from bottom, heading to the Mapei Stadium after losing five of their six games so far but coach Luca Gotti will take encouragement from his side’s four game unbeaten run against Sassuolo, who Udinese have beaten the last two times they’ve met.

SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER

Cagliari v Sampdoria
Sardegna Arena, 15:00 CET

Cagliari’s two-game winning run was ended by Bologna last time out in a highly entertaining 3-2 defeat that means there have been 23 goals spread across the Sardinians’ last four league games; during which Joao Pedro has scored in each match.

Claudio Ranieri’s visitors are four unbeaten in Serie A but their Derby della Lanterna draw last weekend did end their own sequence of three wins on the spin and with 12 goals shared from their last four games, expect goals in this one.

Benevento v Spezia
Ciro Vigorito, 18:00 CET

Since being humbled 5-2 by Roma, Benevento have now lost their last three but coach Filippo Inzaghi will look to last season’s double over their fellow newly-promoted opponents as evidence that they can get back on track this weekend.

Both teams have been adventurous in their approaches thus far, which has made for entertaining viewing for the neutrals but also porous defences in both camps with only Torino (16) and Benevento (17) conceding more than the visitors.

Parma v Fiorentina
Ennio Tardini, 20:45 CET

Parma will be frustrated to have scored twice in each of their last three matches but not picked up a win in the process but they are unbeaten in their last two at the Tardini, where they chalked up their sole victory of the season to date with a 1-0 win over Hellas Verona on Matchday 3.

With captain German Pezzella sidelined with an ankle injury, Lucas Martínez Quarta’s late red card in the 2-0 defeat to Roma means Giuseppe Iachini has a bit of a defensive dilemma for a side that has conceded at least two goals in each of their last five outings.

SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

Lazio v Juventus
Stadio Olimpico, 12:30 CET

Simone Inzaghi’s side were remarkably fortunate to have grabbed all three points at struggling Torino last Sunday, with 95th and 98th minute goals turning a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory and they were unconvincing in a 1-1 draw at Zenit Saint Petersburg in Europe on Wednesday.

Juve were more convincing in the Champions League in midweek as they brushed Ferencvaros aside 4-1 with Alvaro Morata bagging a brace to take his tally to six goals in his last six matches since firing a blank in the 2-2 draw with Roma on week two.

Atalanta v Inter Milan
Gewiss Stadium, 15:00 CET

La Dea did end their run of two consecutive league defeats by nudging out Crotone on Saturday but the subsequent 5-0 mauling at the hands of Liverpool in the Champions League will have hurt a team that still sits fourth in the table, despite conceding in every Serie A game so far and owning the league’s sixth worst defence.

Inter’s own European defeat on Tuesday leaves them staring down the barrel of a Champions League exit at the halfway point of their Group B campaign and they have won just once in their last seven matches in all competitions as the pressure builds on the Nerazzurri.

Genoa v Roma
Luigi Ferraris, 15:00 CET

The midweek Torino defeat - a rearranged Matchday 3 fixture - extends Genoa’s current run to five games without a league win and they’ve lost their last two as the home side at the Luigi Ferraris.

As for Roma, their form has been superb and Paulo Fonseca’s men are eight unbeaten in all competitions this season - their only defeat being the 0-0 draw at Verona that was later turned into a 3-0 loss - while the Giallorossi have scored 17 in their last six games.

Torino v Crotone
Olimpico Grande Torino, 15:00 CET

Having led three games in a row to only come away with a point, finding themselves 3-1 up against Sassuolo after 79 minutes and 3-2 ahead versus Lazio after 88 only to draw the former 3-3 and lose the latter 4-3, Torino secured a much needed 2-1 win at Genoa on Wednesday for their first victory of the season.

And the home side will be hoping for a second win of the season on Sunday as Crotone come to town without a league victory after six matchdays and in danger of being cut off even further at the bottom of the table should they suffer a sixth defeat of an already tough campaign.

Bologna v Napoli
Renato Dall’ara, 18:00 CET

Musa Barrow’s first goals of the season were most welcome for Bologna as they grabbed their second Serie A win by seeing off Cagliari in a cracker last Saturday; a victory that propelled Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men into 13th and heading in the right direction after a run of three defeats in a row.

The loss at home to high-flying Sassuolo on MD6 means Napoli sit fifth going into this weekend after a solid start to 2020-21 and their Europa League victory in midweek made it four away wins out of five in all competitions for the Naples outfit.

AC Milan v Hellas Verona
Giuseppe Meazza, 20:45 CEST

Milan’s unbeaten start to the season was abruptly ended by Lille in the Europa League on Thursday, but Serie A’s pacesetters will be hopeful of a return to winning ways on Sunday night and that Zlatan Ibrahimovic can add to this record of scoring in all four of his league outings thus far.

Despite injuries to seven members of their first team squad, Verona have been fairly impressive to date but both of their (on-the-pitch) wins this season have come at home and they haven’t picked up three points on their travels from their last 12 attempts.