Promoted strugglers Parma and Venezia will battle it out for three precious points on Sunday, when they meet at Stadio Tardini.
Sitting either side of the drop zone's dotted line, clubs are separated by five points in Serie A after both were beaten 1-0 last week.
Match preview
© Imago
After beating relegation rivals Monza to close out 2024, before holding Torino to a goalless draw in early January, Parma suffered their fourth defeat in six games last weekend, when they came away from Genoa empty-handed.
Their hosts scored the only goal midway through the second half at Stadio Ferraris, as captain Enrico Del Prato deflected Morten Frendrup's shot past a stranded Zion Suzuki and into the top corner.
As a result, the Gialloblu are still hovering just above Serie A's bottom three, amid a tightly-packed bottom half of the table.
They now return to home turf, having won two of their last three games at the Tardini - as many successes as throughout the previous 24 - with the aim of continuing that trend against a team that followed them up from the second tier last season.
As Parma have failed to score in three of their last four outings, head coach Fabio Pecchia will surely look to exploit Venezia's weakness at set pieces. While his team have scored the joint-most goals from corners in Serie A this season - six so far, level with Inter Milan and Udinese - their visitors have conceded the most (seven).
Unbeaten in seven top-flight matches against Venezia to date, having won all of the last five, history will certainly be on the hosts' side.
© Imago
Given that grim record versus Parma, it is no surprise that in three top-flight trips to Stadio Tardini, Venezia have picked up just one point.
Furthermore, they were beaten 2-1 there when the clubs met in Serie B last season, and they also lost on home turf earlier this term, as Ange-Yoan Bonny scored the Gialloblu's winner in November.
Venezia's recent revival - featuring a run of just one loss in five games - was halted by Inter last week, but they did put up a fight in their 1-0 home defeat to the Scudetto holders.
Now five points adrift of safety, the Lagunari have plenty of work to do if they are to achieve their goal of top-tier survival.
Finally recording a first away win of the season would help, as Eusebio Di Francesco's side have accrued the fewest points on the road - only three from 10 games so far.
Stretching back to the club's last brief stay in Serie A, Venezia are winless in 17 on their travels, so the odds will be stacked against them prevailing on Sunday.
Team News
© Imago
While Parma have agreed a deal for the mid-season departure of Woyo Coulibaly to Leicester City, and young goalkeeper Zion Suzuki is apparently a target for bigger clubs, they have also brought in some new signings.
Alessandro Vogliacco has arrived from Genoa to bolster a leaky defence, alongside Molde's Mathias Lovik - a Norway Under-21s left-back.
Vogliacco could start on Sunday, as Botond Balogh recently succumbed to a calf injury, joining fellow defenders Yordan Osorio and Alessandro Circati on the sidelines. Adrian Bernabe, Mateusz Kowalski and Gabriel Charpentier are also unavailable.
The hosts' top scorer remains Ange-Yoan Bonny, despite the last of his four league goals coming against Venezia in November's reverse fixture. Meanwhile, the visitors' last seven Serie A strikes have come from seven different players.
Michael Svoboda, Richie Sagrado, Alfred Duncan and Domen Crnigoj are all injured for Venezia, and centre-back Giorgio Altare is struggling to overcome a flexor problem.
Having featured against his parent club last week, Inter-owned goalkeeper Filip Stankovic will start between the posts: since making his Serie A debut earlier this season, he has made the most saves in Italy's top flight - 51 in 13 matches.
Parma possible starting lineup:
Suzuki; Del Prato, Valenti, Vogliacco, Valeri; Keita, Sohm; Man, Hernani, Mihaila; Bonny
Venezia possible starting lineup:
Stankovic; Idzes, Sverko, Haps; Ellertsson, Conde, Nicolussi Caviglia, Busio, Carboni; Oristanio; Pohjanpalo
We say: Parma 2-1 Venezia
Parma are starting to pick up more points on home turf, and they should have enough firepower to extend a positive record against Venezia.
The Lagunari do not travel well, so another away defeat beckons - leaving them languishing in the relegation zone.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
