Bologna will be aiming to put an end to their winless run in Serie A when they welcome relegation-threatened Lecce to the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Sunday afternoon.

Lecce are currently four points adrift of safety with three games remaining, although they did manage to pick up a 3-1 win over Brescia last time out.

Match preview

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Bologna have had to contend with a trio of taxing fixtures over the past couple of weeks, and Sinisa Mihajlovic has now witnessed his side go five games without a win following that tough schedule.

Bologna have followed up a 1-1 stalemate with Napoli with defeats to AC Milan and Atalanta recently, as Luis Muriel's second-half winner was enough for the latter to pick up all three points against Mihajlovic's side on Tuesday.

I Rossoblu are in no danger of relegation with just three games left to go, and should their form pick up again in the final couple of weeks, Bologna could be on course for their highest finish in the Italian top flight since the 2011-12 campaign.

Mihajlovic's men currently occupy 12th spot with 43 points to show from 35 matches, although they are only behind Fiorentina and Parma on goal difference before gameweek 36 gets underway.

Meanwhile, Lecce have given themselves a glimmer of hope for survival as they overcame Brescia in midweek - a result which confirmed Brescia's relegation from Serie A.

However, 17th-placed Genoa managed to pick up their second win on the bounce over Sampdoria and open up a four-point gap between themselves and the bottom three, meaning that Lecce's win over Brescia may have just delayed the inevitable.

If Lecce suffer defeat to Bologna and Genoa come away from their meeting with Inter Milan with a shock three points, Lecce's only hope for survival will rest on already-relegated SPAL beating Torino, who are currently six points above Fabio Liverani's men.

That scenario seems highly unlikely, though, so Lecce simply must find a way to win this weekend and hope that other results go their way if they are to avoid an immediate return to Serie B.

A five-goal thriller earlier in the campaign ultimately saw Bologna walk away with all three points in a 3-2 victory back in December.

Bologna Serie A form: WLDDLL

Lecce Serie A form: LWDLLW

Team News

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Having restricted the free-scoring Atalanta to just one goal in their meeting with the Scudetto hopefuls, Mihajlovic may be reluctant to make too many changes to his Bologna side.

Nevertheless, Riccardo Orsolini will be hopeful of earning a recall to the starting XI, as will Nicola Sansone, who featured off the bench in the defeat to Atalanta.

However, defender Takehiro Tomiyasu was forced off in midweek and is not expected to play a part before the season is over.

As for Lecce, Marco Calderoni could come back into contention assuming he shakes off a muscular problem in time, although Giulio Donati performed well on the left-hand side of defence against Brescia.

Fellow defender Luca Rossettini has also recovered from a fever, but Liverani could stick with the majority of the starting XI that got the job done convincingly against Brescia.

Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Mbaye, Denswil, Danilo, Krejci; Medel, Dominguez; Orsolini, Soriano, Sansone; Barrow

Lecce possible starting lineup:
Gabriel; Rispoli, Lucioni, Rossettini, Donati; Tachtsidis; Falco, Mancosu, Barak, Saponara; Lapadula

We say: Bologna 1-1 Lecce

Lecce should feel confident of travelling back home from this meeting with all three points given Bologna's substandard form, but Mihajlovic's men gave Atalanta a good run for their money in midweek and we expect the points to be shared in a tightly-fought encounter on Sunday.

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