Cagliari will be looking to build on their narrow victory over SPAL when they welcome Torino to the Sardegna Arena for Saturday's Serie A showdown.
Meanwhile, Torino also enjoyed a win by the same scoreline over Udinese last time out as Moreno Longo's side look to move further away from the bottom three.
Match preview
© Reuters
Cagliari could not have bounced back from their defeat to Hellas Verona in a better way as they ended their 12-match winless run in the Italian top flight against a relegation-threatened SPAL side on Tuesday.
Giovanni Simeone - son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone - netted the only goal of the game deep into added time to give Cagliari their first victory in Serie A since early December.
Walter Zenga's side started the campaign in terrific form but their fortunes took a turn for the worst just before Christmas, although the triumph over SPAL is sure to do wonders for their confidence heading into these final few weeks.
Gli Isolani are in a strong position to better their 15th-placed finish last season as they sit 10th on 35 points, and a late push for a Europa League spot is not entirely out of the question either.
However, Zenga's men have lost four out of their last five on familiar territory, although those fixtures were against four top-half sides in Lazio, Napoli, Roma and AC Milan.
Torino ended a winless run of their own as they enjoyed a 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Udinese to record their first three points in Serie A since January.
Il Toro had lost six games in a row before they shared the spoils with Parma last weekend, but Andrea Belotti's 10th goal of the season in midweek means that Torino are now six points clear of the relegation zone after 27 matches.
Longo's men are certainly not out of the woods just yet, although they will be thankful that none of the six sides below them managed to triumph in the last round of fixtures.
Torino will now aiming to end a five-match losing streak in all competitions away from home, and they were forced to settle for a point in the reverse fixture with Cagliari as the sides played out a 1-1 draw in October.
Cagliari Serie A form: DLLLLW
Torino Serie A form: LLLLDW
Team News
© Reuters
Radja Nainggolan, Christian Oliva, Paolo Farago and Leonardo Pavoletti all remain on the treatment table for Cagliari, and the quartet are set to be joined by Fabio Pisacane after the defender suffered a broken rib.
Luca Cigarini will return from suspension and is in line for a starting role, but Gaston Pereiro is unlikely to be involved with a thigh complaint.
Longo has stuck with the exact same lineup in both of Torino's fixtures since the restart, and there is not expected to be much alteration here.
Simone Verdi is recovering well from a hamstring injury but Saturday's match will most likely come too soon for the attacker.
Long-term absentee Daniele Baselli is unlikely to feature before the end of the year, but Cristian Ansaldi has recovered from a calf problem and could be in line for a start on the left.
Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Olsen; Walukiewicz, Klavan, Cacciatore; Ionita, Nandez, Cigarini, Rog, Pellegrini; Pedro, Simeone
Torino possible starting lineup:
Sirigu; Izzo, Nkoulou, Bremer; Silvestri, Meite, Rincon, Ansaldi; Edera; Zaza, Belotti
We say: Cagliari 2-1 Torino
Both sides should go into the weekend brimming with confidence after ending their respective winless streaks last time out. However, we expect Cagliari's late victory over SPAL to act as the catalyst for a potential charge for the Europa League places, and therefore we are going for a narrow home win.
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Cagliari win with a probability of 39.76%. A win for Torino had a probability of 35.35% and a draw had a probability of 24.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cagliari win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.41%) and 2-0 (6.24%). The likeliest Torino win was 1-2 (8.08%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.65%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 1.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Cagliari would win this match.
