Cagliari vs Genoa

The two sides desperate to kick on their Serie A campaigns will lock horns at Sardegna Arena as Cagliari take on Genoa.

Seeking a first Serie A top-half finish in over a decade, Cagliari have started their new top-flight campaign with a whimper rather than a bang. After coming from a 2-0 down to eke out a 2-2 home draw against Spezia on the opening weekend, the hosts slumped away to AC Milan last time out, suffering a horrendous 4-1 defeat. Taking 2020/21 into account, the ‘Sardinians’ are now winless in five straight Serie A fixtures (D3, L2). But while their final three league matches to conclude last season featured under 1.5 overall goals, Cagliari’s Serie A games this term have overseen action-packed football. That might well change now, considering Leonardo Semplici’s men have lost each of their last three league meetings with Genoa by the identical 1-0 scoreline.

On the other hand, the visitors have lost both inaugural Serie A outings this season by an aggregate score of 6-1, losing the first-half ‘to nil’ on each occasion. As a result, none of Genoa’s last eight league fixtures have ended as a draw (W3, L5), with 62.5% of the matches won/lost in this sequence yielding a single-goal margin. Under-fire manager Davide Ballardini will be under severe pressure as ‘Il Grifone‘ face the risk of starting a new Serie A season with three consecutive defeats for the second time in the club’s history, last doing so in 1957/58. However, a victory would see Genoa secure back-to-back away Serie A wins against Cagliari for the first time. Though they’ve lost four of their last six league trips (W2), the traveling side will be encouraged to know one of their wins in that period came at Cagliari.