Fresh from their Coppa Italia second-round success in midweek, Bologna return to Serie A action with a home encounter against Lazio at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Friday night.
While the hosts currently sit eighth in the Italian top-flight standings, the visitors are just one place and one point above their upcoming opponents in seventh.
Match preview
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Bologna extended their impressive unbeaten run in all competitions to 10 matches when they secured a 2-0 home victory over 10-man Hellas Verona in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday, setting up a last-16 tie with holders Inter Milan next month.
Nikola Moro opened the scoring for the Rossoblu four minutes before half time before summer signing Sydney van Hooijdonk scored his first goal for the club midway through the second half, nine minutes after Suat Serdar was sent off for a cynical foul.
August 21 was the last time that Thiago Motta's men tasted defeat in any competition, and avoiding defeat on Friday would see Bologna put together a 10-game unbeaten run in Serie A for the first time since December 1979 and March 1980 under former boss Marino Perani.
Bologna will welcome a swift return to home soil on Friday as they have won each of their last three matches at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, while they are also unbeaten in each of their last four home meetings with Lazio.
Only Udinese (seven) have drawn more Serie A matches than Bologna (six) so far this season, but if Motta's side can claim all three points against Lazio, they would move level on points with Scudetto holders Napoli in fifth place, just one point behind the Champions League positions.
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Five days after suffering a 3-1 defeat at Feyenoord in the Champions League group stage, Lazio returned to winning ways in dramatic fashion when they secured a last-gasp 1-0 victory at home to Fiorentina in Serie A on Monday.
The contest appeared to be heading for a goalless stalemate, but substitute and captain Ciro Immobile came to the rescue for the Eagles in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, burying a low-driven shot from the penalty spot following a handball from Fiorentina's Nikola Milenkovic.
Following a sluggish start to the season, Mauricio Sarri's side have won four of their last five games in all competitions, including each of their last three Serie A matches to climb into the top seven, and victory on Friday would see them move level on points with Atalanta BC in fourth spot.
Lazio boasted the second-best away record in Serie A last season en route to securing second place, but they have since endured a mixed start on the road this term, winning two – including a 2-1 success at champions Napoli – and losing three of their first five top-flight away matches.
The Eagles will fancy their chances of claiming a positive result on Friday, though, as they have only lost two of their last 20 top-flight games against Bologna – both defeats taking place at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in February and October 2021.
Team News
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Bologna will be without Sam Beukema (muscle), Adama Soumaoro (ACL) and Jhon Lucumi (ligament) due to injury, while Oussama El Azzouzi is doubtful after missing the win over Verona with a muscle problem.
Stefan Posch started against Verona for the first time since recovering from a hamstring injury, and the Austrian could continue at right-back on Friday, joining Kevin Bonifazi, Riccardo Calafiori and either Charalampos Lykogiannis or Victor Kristiansen in the back four.
Motta is expected to make changes in the final third after rotating his side in midweek, with Riccardo Orsolini, Lewis Ferguson and Joshua Zirkzee – who have scored nine of Bologna's 11 Serie A goals combined so far this season – all set for recalls at the expense of Dan Ndoye, Giovanni Fabbian and Van Hooijdonk.
As for Lazio, their only injury concern is with defender Nicolo Casale, who continues to recover from a thigh problem which could keep him out until after the international break.
Patric is therefore set to continue at centre-back alongside Alessio Romagnoli, while Manuel Lazzari and Adam Marusic could retain their places at full-back.
Immobile is expected to be recalled to the first XI and lead the line at the expense of Valentin Castellanos, while Matias Vecino, Daichi Kamada and Danilo Cataldi will all be pushing to replace Matteo Guendouzi in centre-midfield.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Posch, Bonifazi, Calafiori, Lykogiannis; Aebischer, Moro; Orsolini, Ferguson, Karlsson; Zirkzee
Lazio possible starting lineup:
Provedel; Lazzari, Patric, Romagnoli, Marusic; Vecino, Rovella, Alberto; Anderson, Immobile, Zaccagni
We say: Bologna 1-1 Lazio
A goalless stalemate was played out the last time these two teams butted heads in March, and another closely-fought contest could be on the cards on Friday.
Bologna's recent unbeaten streak on home soil bodes well heading into this fixture and we believe that they will do enough to frustrate Lazio and claim a share of the spoils.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
