Following the postponement of the fixture between Cagliari and Bologna in Serie A due to be played on Sunday, the game has now been rescheduled for Tuesday instead.
Cagliari will be hoping to boost their survival chances once more at the Unipol Domus, following their huge comeback win on the return from the Italian winter break on Thursday, whilst the visitors saw their fixture with Inter Milan controversially called off due to their rising COVID-19 cases.
Match preview
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After finishing 2021 at the halfway stage of Serie A with just one win to their name, and six points from safety, hopes of a successful 2022 were not high at Cagliari.
Eleven winless games in a row, which contained seven defeats, had left Gli Isolani's situation in a desperate state down in 19th place.
However, goals from Alessandro Deiola and Leonardo Pavoletti on Thursday saw Walter Mazzarri's side come from behind to win 2-1 at Sampdoria in a huge clash.
Those vital three points saw Cagliari climb above Genoa into 18th, and pull them within three points of Spezia in safety in the process.
Despite their struggles this season, the result was thoroughly deserved for Cagliari at the Luigi Ferraris, with the visitors registering 15 attempts compared to their hosts' four.
Mazzarri will be hopeful of another excellent display from his side on Sunday, which would provide them with a reasonable chance of registering back-to-back victories in Serie A for the first time since April 2021, and turning around their fortunes and hopes in the process.
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Meanwhile, the COVID-19 outbreak in the visitors' camp over the past week has seen the local health authorities force an isolation period on the squad, which saw their fixture with Inter on Thursday controversially postponed.
In farcical circumstances, Inter had already made the trip to Bologna to prepare for the encounter as normal, before authorities stepped in and called the game off at the last minute.
Since then, an isolation period had been imposed on the squad until midnight on Sunday, meaning their trip to Cagliari on the same day had become impossible to fulfil, so the game has been pushed back two days instead, despite the visitors being unable to train up to this point.
Therefore, I Rossoblu head to Cagliari with a squad lacking fitness and preparation, but at the time of writing it is one that currently occupies 11th in the Serie A table, 14 points above their opponents in the relegation zone, and five points off an unlikely European spot above them, albeit with a game in hand on most sides.
Prior to the winter break in Italy, Sinisa Mihajlovic's side struggled for consistency at the back end of 2021, with five wins and six defeats being registered from their last 11 fixtures.
Last time out, on December 22, the Serbian boss's side put in a clinical display though, with Bologna comprehensively defeating Sassuolo on their own soil by a 3-0 scoreline.
Riccardo Orsolini, Aaron Hickey and Federico Santander provided the goals in a largely even contest, but Sunday's visitors will require the same kind of display at the Unipol Domus if they are to pick up a result under their difficult circumstances.
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Team News
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Whilst the visitors struggle with a COVID-19 outbreak, Cagliari look set to have just the one absentee due to a positive result as things stand, with influential midfielder Nahitan Nandez forced to sit out after he contracted the virus.
Kevin Strootman, Marko Rog and Sebastian Walukiewicz could make returns from injuries, whilst Deiola's injury that forced him off on Thursday does not appear to be a concern.
Keita Balde will definitely miss out though, with the forward representing his country at AFCON this month, but Dalbert Henrique returns from a one-match suspension.
Luca Ceppitelli and Damir Ceter are also ruled out for the hosts, with the duo facing a few weeks on the sidelines due to muscle and knee injuries respectively.
As for the visitors, the availability of their eight COVID-19 absentees - Gary Medel, Sydney van Hooijdonk, Emanuel Vignato, Nicolas Viola, Nicolas Dominguez, Marco Molla, Santander and Hickey - remains to be seen following their isolation period since testing positive.
Ibrahima Mbaye and Musa Barrow are on international duty at AFCON, whilst Jerdy Schouten and Kingsley Michael could also miss out due to injury.
As a result, just 13 of the 23-man squad that was named for their last fixture at Sassuolo could be available at this stage.
Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Cragno; Altare, Lovato, Carboni; Bellanova, Marin, Grassi, Deiola, Henrique; Pedro, Pavoletti
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Soumaoro, Bonifazi, Binks; Skov Olsen, Svanberg, Valencia, Soriano, Dijks; Orsolini, Arnautovic
We say: Cagliari 2-1 Bologna
Due to the severity of the visitors' COVID-19 outbreak, we are predicting a home win for Cagliari on Sunday, which would provide a huge boost to their survival hopes.
With their opponents' squad facing a lack of fitness and preparation, they will not be given many better opportunities, although with some first-teamers still remaining available, a strong performance will still be required if they are to earn a crucial three points.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
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 41.53%. A win for Bologna had a probability of 33.99% and a draw had a probability of 24.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cagliari win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.85%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.22%) and 2-0 (6.39%). The likeliest Bologna win was 1-2 (7.89%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.38%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Cagliari in this match.
