Serie A Matchday 30: All roads lead to Rome as Jose and Sarri clash in derby

The push for European qualification is set to intensify this weekend when fierce foes Roma and Lazio face off at the Stadio Olimpico.

Elsewhere, AC Milan will be hoping to remain at least three points clear at the top as they travel to Cagliari, while second-placed Napoli are at home to Udinese.

Fellow title challengers Inter Milan host Fiorentina on Saturday and Juventus will look to bounce back from their Champions League exit when they entertain Salernitana.

Game of the week: Roma vs Lazio (Sunday, 5pm)

Roma and Lazio go into the second Derby della Capitale of the campaign separated by just one point.

Jose Mourinho’s hosts will be aiming to leapfrog their bitter rivals into fifth place by extending their unbeaten league run to nine games.

The visitors have won three of their last four Serie A away trips and are targeting a second successive victory over Roma for the first time since November 2012.

But the Giallorossi have not lost any of their last four home encounters with their city rivals — and they could keep a clean sheet in consecutive home derbies for the first time since December 2009.

Should Maurizio Sarri steer his side to victory, however, he will become the first Lazio boss to win his first two top-flight derby matches since Sven-Goran Eriksson in the 1997-98 season.

September’s reverse meeting finished 3-2 to Lazio, with Pedro — whose summer move from Roma made him the first player to cross the Rome divide in almost 40 years — among the scorers.

Here are the other big games to watch this weekend…

Cagliari vs AC Milan (Saturday, 7.45pm)

Successive wins have put Milan in the driving seat to claim a first league title since 2011 — and they are eyeing an 11th away triumph this term, against a Cagliari team who have lost their last two without scoring.

History does not give much hope to the hosts here, with the Rossoneri having lost just one of their last 36 meetings with the Sardinians.

And Cagliari have won only two of 14 home matches all season, the fewest in the division with the exception of bottom two Salernitana (one) and Genoa (none).

Should the visitors score at the Unipol Domus, Stefano Pioli’s men will do something they have only managed once before and not since the 1967-68 edition — find the net in 15 consecutive top-flight away games.

That seems quite likely too. After all, Cagliari have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 15 home outings — a run which stretches back to May 2021.

Olivier Giroud bagged a first-half brace as Milan romped to a 4-1 victory when these two last met in August.

Inter Milan vs Fiorentina (Saturday, 5pm)

Four points behind their Milan rivals but with a game in hand, Inter are targeting victory over a Fiorentina outfit who have lost six of their last 10 Serie A games away from home.

Inter tend to come out on top in this particular fixture, picking up 16 top-flight wins out of 19 since 2001 — at least three more than against any other opponent at home during that period.

Fiorentina have scored plenty of goals against the Nerazzurri down the years though — more than against any other team in their Serie A history in fact (214).

Still, no side has collected more home points than Inter this season. Simone Inzaghi’s men have amassed 32 so far, at a rate of 2.29 per game.

La Viola will be trying to avoid conceding in 11 straight away matches during a single campaign for the first time since 2010. However, they have only kept one clean sheet on their travels this term.

The reverse fixture in September saw Inter run out 3-1 winners as Fiorentina finished the game with 10 men after Nicolas Gonzalez was sent off.

Napoli vs Udinese (Saturday, 2pm)

Victory for Napoli would take them top — at least until Saturday night — but Udinese have proven that they are no pushovers by taking points off Roma, Milan and Lazio in their last four games.

Luciano Spalletti’s team have not been in great form at home lately either, losing four of their last seven matches at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Udinese have only found the net once in their last four away outings but caretaker boss Gabriele Cioffi’s side did draw 1-1 at Milan last month thanks to Destiny Udogie’s equaliser.

Still, the Partenopei are unbeaten in 12 encounters with Udinese, of which they have won 11 — including all six in Naples.

If Udinese can avoid defeat on this occasion, they will be on their longest unbeaten run of the campaign (five games).

Napoli handed out a 4-0 thrashing when these teams last met last September, with four different players on the scoresheet.

Juventus vs Salernitana (Sunday, 2pm)

Juventus crashed out of the Champions League on Wednesday, succumbing to a humbling 4-1 aggregate defeat to Villarreal.

Max Allegri's side will be eager to make amends and could move to within four points of top spot by beating rock-bottom Salernitana.

With victory last Saturday at Sampdoria, Juve extended their unbeaten league run to 15 matches. The Old Lady have taken 35 points from the last 45 available.

The visitors might take hope from the fact they have lost only one of their last six — drawing the other five, including a 2-2 against Milan — but they have collected a league-low eight away points all season.

Juve lost at home to Empoli in August but the Bianconeri have long since put their poor start to the campaign behind them — and have never suffered two home losses to newly-promoted opposition.

Salernitana have scored just 22 goals so far, the joint-fewest in Serie A this term and only two more than Juve striker Dusan Vlahovic.

The weekend's other fixtures

Sassuolo vs Spezia (Friday, 5.45pm)

Genoa vs Torino (Friday, 8pm)

Venezia vs Sampdoria (Sunday, 11.30am)

Empoli vs Verona (Sunday, 2pm)

Bologna vs Atalanta (Sunday, 7.45pm)

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