Bologna and Cagliari are separated by one place in the Serie A table heading into their round three encounter at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Saturday.

Both sides are winless in the opening two fixtures this term, and this weekend represents an opportunity to be third-time lucky.

Match preview

Thiago Motta and his players were furious after last week's 1-1 draw at Juventus, and rightly so after neither Marco Di Bello nor the VAR spotted Samuel Iling-Junior's foul on Dan Ndoye inside the penalty area in the second half.

It was 1-0 to the Rossoblu at the time of the incident, thus denying Motta's troops an opportunity to double their advantage minutes before Dusan Vlahovic levelled the game with a well-directed header from Iling-Junior's cross.

That result leaves the club from Emilia-Romagna winless after two games, even if it should be noted that they have started this season with games against AC Milan and Juventus.

They ostensibly should welcome the challenge of playing Cagliari on Saturday, with a similar showing to Milan or the Old Lady expected to see them secure their first win.

It has been small margins for Bologna in weeks one and two; they could have gone ahead against Stefano Pioli's team in the opening seconds and may have held a 2-0 lead against Juventus at the Allianz Stadium had the officials made the right calls, but they seek to put things right this weekend.

As for newly-promoted Cagliari, they understandably have found the going tough in Serie A after regaining promotion.

Claudio Ranieri's men have played 180 minutes without scoring, far from a pattern due to the insignificant sample size, but a situation to monitor nonetheless.

The Sardinians must improve the quality of chances they create, demonstrated by their expected goals (xG) against Torino (0.4) and Inter Milan (0.6), and it remains to be seen if the league's new boys are more inventive in the attacking third.

Cagliari's winless run at Bologna since a 1-0 triumph in January 2010 highlights the magnitude of Saturday's game, with the home side undoubted favourites.

Ending a 13-year wait for a victory in Reggio Emilia should motivate the visitors to play positively in round three.

Team News

Adama Soumaoro is not expected to play for Bologna until 2024, with a kneecap rupture ruling out the centre-back for the rest of the year.

Despite rumours linking Musa Barrow with a move away, the Gambian has stayed in Reggio Emilia, but he is unlikely to play for the first time this season.

Lewis Ferguson, who netted seven league goals for the Rossoblu last term and got off the mark for the new season against Juventus, could be a potential match-winner for the home side.

Ranieri has a surfeit of injury absentees, with Marko Rog, Gianluca Lapadula, Marco Mancosu, Gaston Pereiro, Jacopo Desogus and Elio Capradossi all expected to miss out this weekend.

Leonardo Pavoletti went off early in Monday's defeat by Inter, possibly ruling out the forward against Bologna — Eldor Shomurodov could start in the former's place.

Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Lucumi, Lykogiannis; Aebischer, Moro; Orsolini, Ferguson, Ndoye; Zirkzee

Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Radunovic; Zappa, Dossena, Obert, Augello; Sulemana, Makoumbou; Oristanio, Nandez, Jankto; Shomurodov

We say: Bologna 1-0 Cagliari

Cagliari's winless run at Bologna should continue on Saturday, with the away side falling to a slender defeat against their more coherent hosts.


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