Bologna's recent struggles have been there for all to see, and while goals have been hard to come by at the best of times, Zirkzee's absence will only enhance this problem.
Facing a side chasing the European places, any result will be a positive for Cagliari, who must now accept they are deep in a relegation battle, and the target will be to remain outside of the bottom three come the end of the weekend.
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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 Cagliari win with a probability of 46.01%. A win for Bologna had a probability of 27.75% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cagliari win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.07%) and 2-0 (8.49%). The likeliest Bologna win was 0-1 (8.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.46%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Cagliari would win this match.