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Bologna logo
Serie A | Gameweek 36
Jul 26, 2020 at 4.15pm UK
Renato Dall'Ara
Lecce logo

Bologna
3 - 2
Lecce

Palacio (2'), Soriano (5'), Barrow (90+3')
Palacio (43')
FT(HT: 2-1)
Mancosu (45+2'), Falco (66')
Rispoli (90+7')

Preview: Bologna vs. Lecce - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Sunday's Serie A clash between Bologna and Lecce, including team news and predicted lineups.

Bologna will be aiming to put an end to their winless run in Serie A when they welcome relegation-threatened Lecce to the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Sunday afternoon.

Lecce are currently four points adrift of safety with three games remaining, although they did manage to pick up a 3-1 win over Brescia last time out.


Match preview

Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic in June 2020.© Reuters

Bologna have had to contend with a trio of taxing fixtures over the past couple of weeks, and Sinisa Mihajlovic has now witnessed his side go five games without a win following that tough schedule.

Bologna have followed up a 1-1 stalemate with Napoli with defeats to AC Milan and Atalanta recently, as Luis Muriel's second-half winner was enough for the latter to pick up all three points against Mihajlovic's side on Tuesday.

I Rossoblu are in no danger of relegation with just three games left to go, and should their form pick up again in the final couple of weeks, Bologna could be on course for their highest finish in the Italian top flight since the 2011-12 campaign.

Mihajlovic's men currently occupy 12th spot with 43 points to show from 35 matches, although they are only behind Fiorentina and Parma on goal difference before gameweek 36 gets underway.

Meanwhile, Lecce have given themselves a glimmer of hope for survival as they overcame Brescia in midweek - a result which confirmed Brescia's relegation from Serie A.

However, 17th-placed Genoa managed to pick up their second win on the bounce over Sampdoria and open up a four-point gap between themselves and the bottom three, meaning that Lecce's win over Brescia may have just delayed the inevitable.

If Lecce suffer defeat to Bologna and Genoa come away from their meeting with Inter Milan with a shock three points, Lecce's only hope for survival will rest on already-relegated SPAL beating Torino, who are currently six points above Fabio Liverani's men.

That scenario seems highly unlikely, though, so Lecce simply must find a way to win this weekend and hope that other results go their way if they are to avoid an immediate return to Serie B.

A five-goal thriller earlier in the campaign ultimately saw Bologna walk away with all three points in a 3-2 victory back in December.

Bologna Serie A form: WLDDLL

Lecce Serie A form: LWDLLW


Team News

Bologna's Riccardo Orsolini in action with Inter Milan's Dalbert Henrique in Serie A on February 3, 2019© Reuters

Having restricted the free-scoring Atalanta to just one goal in their meeting with the Scudetto hopefuls, Mihajlovic may be reluctant to make too many changes to his Bologna side.

Nevertheless, Riccardo Orsolini will be hopeful of earning a recall to the starting XI, as will Nicola Sansone, who featured off the bench in the defeat to Atalanta.

However, defender Takehiro Tomiyasu was forced off in midweek and is not expected to play a part before the season is over.

As for Lecce, Marco Calderoni could come back into contention assuming he shakes off a muscular problem in time, although Giulio Donati performed well on the left-hand side of defence against Brescia.

Fellow defender Luca Rossettini has also recovered from a fever, but Liverani could stick with the majority of the starting XI that got the job done convincingly against Brescia.

Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Mbaye, Denswil, Danilo, Krejci; Medel, Dominguez; Orsolini, Soriano, Sansone; Barrow

Lecce possible starting lineup:
Gabriel; Rispoli, Lucioni, Rossettini, Donati; Tachtsidis; Falco, Mancosu, Barak, Saponara; Lapadula


Sports Mole Logo

We say: Bologna 1-1 Lecce

Lecce should feel confident of travelling back home from this meeting with all three points given Bologna's substandard form, but Mihajlovic's men gave Atalanta a good run for their money in midweek and we expect the points to be shared in a tightly-fought encounter on Sunday.



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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 Bologna win with a probability of 49.36%. A win for Lecce had a probability of 26.16% and a draw had a probability of 24.5%.

The most likely scoreline for a Bologna win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.53%) and 2-0 (8.44%). The likeliest Lecce win was 0-1 (7.05%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.59%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Bologna would win this match.


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AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli pictured in February 2020
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Napoli118121881025
2Inter Milan1173125131224
3Atalanta BCAtalanta1171329141522
4Fiorentina116412291322
5Lazio1171324141022
6Juventus115601971221
7AC Milan105231711617
8Udinese115151416-216
9Bologna103611211115
10Torino114251516-114
11Empoli1135389-114
12Roma113441214-213
13Hellas VeronaHellas Verona114071624-812
14CagliariCagliari11236919-109
15Genoa11236821-139
16Como112361222-109
17Parma111641417-39
18Monza111551014-48
19VeneziaVenezia112271019-98
20Lecce11227420-168


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