Surely bound for the drop, Serie A’s bottom club Monza will seek just a second home win of the season on Saturday, when they play host to Como.
While the Brianzoli have been cut adrift at the foot of Italy’s top flight, their Lombardy rivals are inching closer to securing survival.
Match preview
Despite staying on level terms until the second half of last week’s game in Cagliari, Serie B-bound Monza ultimately shipped three goals after the break and suffered a 19th league defeat of the season.
Leaving them 10 points shy of safety with just eight rounds remaining, the Biancorossi have virtually no hope of extending their first visit to the top tier beyond this, their third year.
After his sacking and subsequent re-hiring, Alessandro Nesta‘s return to the dugout has not led to any improvement, with his team picking up only two points from a possible 18 since former boss Salvatore Bocchetti departed.
In fact, throughout Monza’s last four home matches they have scored just once – an Armando Izzo goal against Parma – and their most recent win anywhere dates back to January.
Following an away draw in this season’s reverse fixture, the Brianzoli now host local rivals Como, who they have lost to only once in the teams’ last 10 league meetings.
Since that 1-1 draw with Monza in November, Como have lost their last four Lombardy derbies – albeit they were not expected to match the might of Inter Milan, AC Milan or Atalanta BC.
Nonetheless, a busy winter in the transfer market has helped the ambitious club edge away from acute danger, with eight points coming from their last six matches.
Last week’s draw with free-falling Empoli promised much more, but Cesc Fabregas saw his side lose a one-goal lead on home turf, forcing them to accept a share of the spoils.
Still, as seven of their final eight fixtures are against other sides inside the bottom half – a season finale at home to Inter aside – the Lariani very much have their destiny within their own hands.
Though they have now built up a seven-point buffer to the drop zone, Como have won just one of their last 11 away matches, suffering seven defeats and keeping only a single clean sheet.
Such dismal form on the road could yet prove costly, so they will hope to end that trend on Saturday, when making the short trip to Monza.
Team News
In spite of his team’s persistent failure, Alessandro Nesta is set to keep faith with most of the XI that started last week’s 3-0 loss to Cagliari.
Likely to partner Keita Balde up front, Portuguese striker Dany Mota will again aim to end his long goal drought: after scoring with each of his first four shots in Serie A this season, he has since failed to find the net.
Though their long injury list has begun to shorten, Monza are still missing club captain Matteo Pessina, who was recently ruled out for the rest of the season, plus Andrea Carboni, Luca Caldirola and Stefano Sensi.
Meanwhile, Como can recall star man Nico Paz, who has excelled since joining on loan from Real Madrid but had to serve a suspension last week; Dele Alli is also back from the ban imposed for his reckless red card against Milan.
The welcome return of Paz could see top scorer Patrick Cutrone slip back down to the bench, despite having his second-most productive season in terms of Serie A goal involvements, with nine so far.
Centre-back Alberto Dossena, who suffered a serious knee injury late last month, is the Lariani’s only confirmed absentee.
Monza possible starting lineup:
Turati; Pereira, Izzo, D’Ambrosio; Birindelli, Castrovilli, Bianco, Akpa Akpro, Kyriakopoulos; Mota, Balde
Como possible starting lineup:
Butez; Vojvoda, Goldaniga, Kempf, Valle; Da Cunha, Roberto, Caqueret; Strefezza, Paz, Diao
We say: Monza 0-2 Como
Como have won possession more times in the final third this season than any other Serie A side (143), while Monza have done so the least often (62), so it will be a clash of two very different styles.
With time running out, failure would push the hosts closer to confirmed relegation, and their regional rivals are well equipped to inflict another defeat.
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