Preview: Cremonese vs. Pisa - prediction, team news, lineups

Aiming to avoid all but losing their Serie A status, 18th-placed Cremonese hope to prevent relegated Pisa from dragging them down in Sunday’s 36th round at Stadio Giovanni Zini.

The Lombardy-based hosts are four points from safety with three games to go, and La Cremona seek to end a three-match losing run in this fixture to boost their survival prospects.

Match preview

When Marco Giampaolo secured a win in his first match back at Cremonese, it appeared as though the decision to replace relegation specialist Davide Nicola with the 58-year-old would pay off; however, the encouragement following the 2-0 win away at Parma on March 21 has proven to be short-lived.

The Grigiorossi have secured just one point from the 15 available across the next five matches, notably failing to score in three of those: losing 1-0 to Cagliari and suffering a 4-0 hammering at Napoli, either side of a goalless game with Torino.

Those results place them 18th in the table, four behind Lecce, who have earned five points from the last three rounds to leapfrog their Lombardy relegation rivals.

There is little positivity heading into the run-in, too, with that win over Parma the club’s only victory in 18 matches played since the turn of the year, and the seven points picked up in 2026 are a joint-low with this weekend’s away side.

Now winless in front of their supporters since early December’s victory over Lecce, Giampaolo’s side must end that dire five-month wait for success in Lombardy.

It will be interesting to see if Pisa are willing participants this weekend, given their three-match winning streak in this fixture: securing 3-1, 2-1 and 1-0 victories.

With relegation from Serie A confirmed, the Nerazzurri’s motivation will be tested, especially as they have fallen to six consecutive defeats since beating Cagliari 3-1 almost two months ago.

That success was Pisa’s first of 2026, ending a four-month wait after beating this weekend’s opponents 1-0 in Tuscany at the start of November.

Further diminishing Pisa’s prospects ahead of this weekend’s visit to Lombardy is their ongoing run without an away goal since notching two in January’s 6-2 reverse at Inter Milan, failing to score in five consecutive defeats on the road: 1-0, 4-0, 5-0, 3-0 and 1-0 against Fiorentina, Juventus, Como, Roma and Parma respectively.

Still without an away win all season, having secured eight draws in 17 matches, Oscar Hiljemark will hope to leverage his team’s winning run in this fixture to end that wait for a positive result against the Cremona-based side.

Cremonese Serie A form:

Pisa Serie A form:

Team News

Federico Baschirotto sustained a muscle issue after 21 minutes against Lazio last time out, ruling the Cremonese centre-back out on Sunday.

Federico Bonazzoli scored in the 2-1 loss to the capital club, ending a six-match run without an open-play goal for the hosts.

The forward’s goal took him to eight league goals for the season, three more than Jamie Vardy, who has now failed to score since January 8’s strike against Cagliari.

Stefano Moreo is Pisa’s leading marksman with six goals, but the 32-year-old has not scored since March’s 3-1 win over Cagliari, while his last strike from open play came in that 6-2 loss to Inter at the start of 2026.

The relegated visitors could be without Marius Marin (muscle), Matteo Tramoni (muscle) and Daniel Denoon (ankle).

Cremonese possible starting lineup:

Audero; Terracciano, Bianchetti, Luperto, Pezzella; Mussolini, Maleh, Grassi, Zerbin; Vardy, Bonazzoli

Pisa possible starting lineup:

Semper; Canestrelli, Caracciolo, Bozhinov; Leris, Vural, Akinsanmiro, Aebischer, Angora; Stojilkovic, Moreo

We say: Cremonese 1-0 Pisa

Cremonese’s desperation could prove decisive against a Pisa side whose relegation has long been confirmed and whose away struggles have been glaring for much of the campaign.

Given the hosts’ need for points and Pisa’s poor record on the road, the Grigiorossi may edge a tense contest with a narrow victory.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.