Denied their biggest scalp of the season by a late equaliser last weekend, Bologna welcome mid-table counterparts Udinese to Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Sunday.
While a stoppage-time strike by Dusan Vlahovic denied the Rossoblu victory at Juventus, their visitors went down to Serie A's bottom side Salernitana - ending a three-match winning streak.
Match preview
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Having come within minutes of an improbable win in Turin last Saturday, nine-man Bologna were undoubtedly deflated by seeing their brave resistance broken deep into added time, but the Emilian outfit at least took their first point away to Juventus since 2011.
Indeed, it was the first time that Bologna had avoided defeat against Juve for over six years all told, and their current unbeaten run was extended to three games in the process.
While that streak is hardly a measure of great progress, such has been the club's inconsistency in Serie A in recent times, if they manage to prolong it to four this week, that would represent their longest league run without defeat since early last year.
Head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, who has been absent from the touchline while undergoing further treatment for leukaemia, has certainly tightened up his side defensively since the turn of the year, and they have gone from conceding an average of 1.63 goals per game during the first half of the season to 1.08 after the winter break.
In 2022, only five teams have conceded fewer goals than the 13th-placed Felsinei in Serie A, and they have already registered seven clean sheets at Dall'Ara for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign, when one of Calcio's top shot-stoppers Gianluca Pagliuca was in goal.
They had, though, failed to find the net in any of their four games preceding a recent win over struggling Sampdoria, and their reliance on firebrand forward Marko Arnautovic for goals is all too apparent. The Austrian striker - who will be suspended this weekend - has scored each of Bologna's last six Serie A goals following his opener against Juventus; the first time that has happened at the club since 1933.
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After a 1-1 draw in October's reverse fixture, Udinese have lost only three of their last 20 games against Sunday's opponents, and they have not been beaten by Bologna since 2018.
A recent upturn in results has also taken them above the Rossoblu in the standings, and they sit both a point and a place ahead of Mihajlovic's men before the trip to Emilia-Romagna.
However, Gabriele Cioffi's side suffered a setback last time out in Serie A, as they fell to a 1-0 home defeat against Salernitana, who are clinging on to their top-flight status by the skin of their teeth.
As a result, Udinese lie seven points adrift of a place in the top half - though still with a game in hand on several of the sides above them.
The Bianconeri did come out on top in their last away fixture, though, and that victory at Venezia was sandwiched by 5-1 and 4-1 wins over Cagliari and Empoli respectively.
Cioffi has therefore completed the brief he was handed when replacing Luca Gotti earlier this season, and the Bianconeri have comfortably avoided the relegation battle which seemed certain to be their fate just a few months ago.
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Team News
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As Bologna's talisman Marko Arnautovic is suspended due to accumulated bookings, the hosts will hope to find another scorer in Serie A for the first time since January, when Riccardo Orsolini found the net versus Verona.
The latter should join Musa Barrow up front on Saturday, and though the Gambian striker scored in the reverse fixture with Udinese, he has played 465 minutes without scoring since the start of December.
Following their red cards in Turin, regular centre-backs Gary Medel and Adama Soumaoro are also banned, so Luis Binks and Kevin Bonifazi are set to come into the back three, as part of a 3-5-2 formation. Meanwhile, midfielders Kingsley Michael and Nicola Sansone are unavailable because of injury.
Udinese, on the other hand, only have first-choice forward Beto out of action this weekend, and in his absence, Ignacio Pussetto - who has been directly involved in at least one goal in each of his three Serie A games against Bologna - will battle it out with Isaac Success to join Gerard Deulofeu up front.
Nahuel Molina returns from suspension and should line up on the right flank, while another member of the visitors' ex-Watford enclave, Roberto Pereyra, is expected to feature at some stage after missing out through injury last week.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Bonifazi, Binks, Theate; De Silvestri, Dominguez, Svanberg, Soriano, Dijks; Orsolini, Barrow
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Becao, Mari, Perez; Molina, Makengo, Walace, Arslan, Udogie; Deulofeu, Success
We say: Bologna 1-1 Udinese
Each of the last four league meetings between these clubs has ended in a draw, and a second 1-1 result of the season is among the likelier outcomes this time around.
Neither side is particularly prolific - certainly with Beto and Arnautovic both sidelined - and they stand side-by-side in the standings, so the spoils should be shared once again.
Top tip
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 47.61%. A win for Udinese had a probability of 27.79% and a draw had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bologna win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.42%) and 2-0 (7.98%). The likeliest Udinese win was 0-1 (7.18%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.62%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
