Following a strong start to the Serie A season, Bologna resume their campaign on Sunday with a visit from Venezia, who enjoyed a ground-breaking win before the intervention of international football.
The teams meet at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, with the hosts just a point off a European place and their visitors gradually growing into life among the Italian elite.
Match preview
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Overcoming a final barrier which had prevented from rising up the standings, Bologna ended a run of nine away games without a win just before the international break.
Their 2-1 victory at Sampdoria came courtesy of goals from Matthias Svanberg and Marko Arnautovic; the latter scoring what proved to be the winner within a minute of Samp's second-half equaliser.
While the Rossoblu remain an unpredictable outfit - as likely to beat Lazio 3-0 as lose 4-2 to promoted Empoli - wins in both of their last two outings have seen them ascend to eighth place in the table - level on points with Juventus, and just one behind Roma. Indeed, Bologna sit fifth in the home form rankings so far, having taken maximum points from four of their six games at Dall'Ara this term.
All told, 18 points from 12 games represents the best Serie A start for the Emilians since 2002, and their 19 goals scored is the most registered at this stage since 1997.
Head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic must take much of the credit for such form, and the Serbian was recently awarded honorary citizenship of Bologna as a token of the esteem he is held in throughout the city. He will surely relish the prospect of another three-point haul for his side on Sunday, as when they meet Venezia for the first time in nearly 20 years, they face an opponent they last lost to back in 1947.
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The pause for World Cup qualifying to take place was particularly ill-timed for Venezia, as Serie A's 15th-placed side pulled off a brilliant comeback to beat Roma at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo a fortnight ago.
A much-needed victory came thanks to Mattia Aramu's equaliser from the spot being followed by a David Okereke strike on the counter, as the Lagunari ran out 3-2 winners over the capital club - following a previous run of just one point from three games.
Aramu has now been directly involved in six goals (four goals, two assists) in the current Serie A campaign - at least double the tally of any other Venezia player - and will be seeking a first strike outside of Venice when he takes to the pitch this weekend.
The Arancioneroverdi face a season-long battle to avoid an immediate return to Serie B, from where they emerged via the playoffs, so will need even more input from their forwards in the coming weeks given they still average under a goal per game.
Meeting Inter, Atalanta and Juventus - plus Venetian rivals Hellas Verona - in the coming weeks means that fixtures such as Sunday's perhaps provide one of their better openings to gain points before the winter break.
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Team News
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Ahead of their return to action, Bologna are hoping that midfield regular Matthias Svanberg will be fit to play his 100th match wearing the Rossoblu jersey, though the Sweden international has been training separately from the main squad this week.
Sinisa Mihajlovic will, though, be without Lorenzo De Silvestri (hamstring) and Kingsley Michael (back), while Jerdy Schouten remains doubtful.
In De Silvestri's absence, Andreas Skov Olsen could come in on the right side of a 3-4-2-1 formation, in which Marko Arnautovic will lead the line up front.
Incidentally, Gary Medel - set to feature in the back three - is in line for his 250th appearance in the top five European leagues this weekend.
Venezia, meanwhile, have seen their injury list shorten during the break, as both Antonio Vacca and Dennis Johnsen are back in full training, and reserve goalkeeper Luca Lezzerini is aiming for a return to the bench.
Only Luca Fiordilino and Michael Svoboda are therefore sidelined for Paolo Zanetti's visitors, who are likely to retain a 4-3-3 setup led by chief goal threats David Okereke and Mattia Aramu.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Soumaoro, Medel, Theate; Skov Olsen, Svanberg, Dominguez, Hickey; Soriano, Barrow; Arnautovic
Venezia possible starting lineup:
Romero; Mazzocchi, Caldara, Ceccaroni, Haps; Crnigoj, Busio, Ampadu; Aramu, Okereke, Kiyine
We say: Bologna 2-1 Venezia
Just one away win for Venezia and the same number of home defeats suffered by Bologna points towards a probable victory for the latter when they meet in Emilia-Romagna.
The Rossoblu have more effective attacking weapons at their disposal than their visitors, so should edge a close-fought affair by a narrow margin.
Jonathan O'Shea
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 54.64%. A draw had a probability of 23.2% and a win for Venezia had a probability of 22.12%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bologna win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.48%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.82%) and 2-0 (9.37%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11%), while for a Venezia win it was 0-1 (6.16%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 6.2% likelihood.
