Napoli's striving for Serie A-leaders Inter will be confronted with a serious test in the last match of MatchDay 31 when they are confronted with in-form Bologna, who have won their last five competition matches.
The side of Antonio Conte is three points behind Inter on the top with eight games of their respective seasons, so that there is little margin for errors.
But they enjoyed recent matches against Bologna. Indeed, they have not lost in nine of their last 10 league matches (W6 D3).
Napoli has also scored the most goals against Bologna in the Serie A (197). They also won 50 of their 131 league matches against them (D39 L42).
Only against Lazio (54), Fiorentina (54) and Torino (52) have they registered more victories against a single opponent in the competition, but this will not be that simple.
Bologna, however, has won their last five league games. Only three times have they previously included more consecutive victories in their history in the Serie A.
They achieved six competition chiners under Thiago Motta in 2024 and Luis Carniglia in 1967, while in 1964 they also registered 10 straight victories under Fulvio Bernardini.
In 2025, Bologna scored the most goals (25) in the Serie A. Only Roma picked up more points (32) than she (28 in 13 games – W8 D4 L1) in the competition.
But Napoli will be stimulated by the return of midfielder Scott McTominay, who missed last week's 2-1 victory over AC Milan due to illness.
Frank Anguisissa is also back to full fitness, with Conte's team now after the full strength, except for wounded defender Leonardo Spinazzola.
And Inter will look nervously over their shoulder, where the Simone Inzaghi team travels to the Stadio Ennio Tardini to enter into a Parma with various injuries to contend with.
Denzel Dumfries is expected to have a longer period on the sidelines after a setback in his repair of a hamstring injury.
Lautaro Martinez, Federico Dimarco and Marko Arnautovic also doubt a critical point in the season.
Inter Face a two-legged Champions League quarterfinals draw with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, as well as their Coppa Italia semi-final second stage against Milan.
But Inter is unbeaten in their last six league games against Parma (W4 D2), with the last victory for the hosts of Saturday in the Serie A from September 15, 2018.
They have won their last two league matches against Parma and last more consecutive victories against them between 2006 and 2009 (five).
Parma has meanwhile enjoyed its own revival. They are unbeaten in four of their five Series A matches under Cristian Chivu (W1 D3), as often as in their previous 13 league matches under Fabio Pecchia (W2 D2).
The 18 games that have been played in the Serie A since 2000 in the Tardini between Parma and Inter are in balance, with seven victories per and four draws. The Nerazzurri, however, have won the last three road races against them in the competition.
For Atalanta, their hope for lifting the Serie A-Kroon this season was exercised a hammerlag last time after a 1-0 defeat against Fiorentina.
Gian Piero Gasperini admitted that the title race was over for his side, but he will want to return to winning ways against Lazio after back-to-back competition losses.
Atalanta has won 38 of their 113 games against Lazio in the Serie A (D43 L32), a joint record in terms of victories for them in the competition (also 38 against Bologna).
You may expect goals, with 41 goals scored between the two parties in their last 11 Serie A meetings in Bergamo, an average of 3.7 goals per match.
But Atalanta has not succeeded in scoring in their last three league matches at the Gests Stadium. Only five times in their Serie A history they went four consecutive home games without finding the net, the most recently between November and December 2004.
Igor Tudor will meanwhile take the lead on his second game as a Juventus head coach when they travel to Roma, who find some rhythm under Claudio Ranieri.
Roma has won their last seven league games and has won only eight or more games in a row four times in their Serie A history, in which each of them has been coming since 2005-06. The latter was between January and March 2016 (eight under Luciano Spalletti).
They also held a clean slate in six of their last seven league games, as well as many clean sheets when they collected (six) this season in their first 23 games in the Serie A.
Milan will organize Fiorentina on Saturday in what few would have predicted at the start of the season, would be a collision from the middle sheets.
The competition sees the ninth placed Milan confronted with the eighth placed Fiorentina, where both parties rediscover their form for the last part of the campaign.
For the first time since December 2017, Fiorentina will be confronted with Milan for the first time since December 2017 by the start of the matchday with more points in the Serie A table.
Milan has meanwhile included four defeats in a series of six Series A games (W2) under a single manager for the first time since August and September 2019, when Marco Giampaolo was at the helm.
However, they have won each of their last four league matches in the San Siro against Fiorentina. But the last time that Milan won five or more consecutive Serie matches against Saturday's opponents was between 1948 and 1955 (eight in that case).
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