Serie A returns this weekend as Lazio will look to begin their new season with a win when they welcome Bologna to Stadio Olimpico.
Venue: Stadio Olimpico (Rome)
Key Statistics
Lazio were the joint-tenth team for goals conceded (58) last season in the Serie A.
Only Inter Milan (84) scored more Serie A (SA) goals than Maurizio Sarri’s side (77) in 2021/22.
The hosts won 36 points at home last season. Only Inter Milan (45), Fiorentina (41) and AC Milan (40) won more points at home.
Bologna won only four away games last season (D6, L9).
They have not won away in Serie A at Lazio since 2012 (D3, L6).
The visitor’s goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski, kept 12 clean sheets last season making him joint-fifth in the league.
Head to head
Lazio have five wins in the last ten games between both sides. Bologna have recorded two wins, and two of those wins came in the last three games between both sides.
Latest performances in all competitions
Lazio: D-D-L-W-W
Bologna: W-L-L-W-L
Lazio
Lazio will look to begin their new season with a win when they welcome Bologna to Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.
The hosts qualified for European competition for a sixth consecutive campaign after finishing in fifth place last season. This run of six-consecutive top six finishes is only bettered by a spell between 1992-2005 when the club qualified for Europe 13 years in a row.
They will now look to extend that run further this season and also close the gap between them and the Champions League places which stood by six points last term.
However, the Biancocelesti find themselves in a transition period, with several new arrivals needing to hit the ground running if they are to make up that gap in this campaign. To close that gap, they will have to sort out their defence which conceded a whopping 58 goals last term–the joint-tenth for goals conceded.
However, only Inter Milan (84) scored more Serie A (SA) goals than they did last year, meaning that they will be expected to score in this game.
Possible Lazio starting line-up
Luis Maximiano; Manuel Lazzari, Patric, Alessio Romagnoli, Adam Marusic; Toma Basic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Danilo Cataldi; Felipe Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Mattia Zaccagni.
Injured: Pedro,
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Nicolo Casale
Bologna
Bologna will look to make it two wins in two games this season when they travel to Rome on Sunday.
The visitors have already begun their season on a positive note after defeating Serie B’s Cosenza 1-0 in the Coppa Italia.
And so Siniša Mihajlović’s side will now look to cause an upset in game week one, by beating Lazio as they look to improve on their 13th-placed finish in the league last season.
With their 12 league wins last term their joint-highest in the same since the 2017/18 season, they will fancy their chances in this game. However, they had a poor away record last term as only four of their wins last season came on the road though.
They also endured a poor finish to last campaign, winning just one of ten league away trips (D4, L5). Another thing that will worry them is that they haven’t won away in Serie A at Lazio since 2012 (D3, L6). And so they could be in for another tough test here.
Possible Bologna starting line-up
Lukasz Skorupski; Adama Soumaoro, Gary Medel, Kevin Bonifazi; Lorenzo Di Silvestri, Nicolas Dominguez, Roberto Soriano, Jerdy Schouten, C. Lykogiannis, Nicolas Sanson, Marko Arnautovic..
Injured: Lewis Ferguson, Kingsley Michael
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Lazio 2-1 Bologna
