Lazio vs. Bologna 10/24/20 Serie A Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Lazio is welcoming Bologna to Stadio Olimpico in round 5 in the Italian Serie A.

After their 3-game streak without a win in Serie A, Lazio has won their Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund earlier this week. In the 4 games Lazio has played in Serie A, they have scored 4 goals while conceding 8 goals. Lazio is in 15th place in the standings with 4 points. Immobile, Caicedo, Lazzari, and Milinkovic-Savic have each scored 1 goal for Lazio so far this season, while Marusic added 2 assists. Lulic, Proto, Lazzari, and Radu are all injured, while Escalante and Pereira are still questionable for this game. Proto, Radu, Di Gennaro, Lulic, and Durmisi are all suspended for the next Serie A game. In their last Serie A game against Sampdoria on the road, Lazio was the weaker game with 48% of ball possession, 0 shots on goal, 3 corner kicks, 0 big chances created, and 84% of accurate passes. Lazio was terrible in this game, as they were in most of their Serie A games this season, and Lazio has lost this match 3-0. Lazio will look to get back on winning track in Serie A in this game, but since they have a lot of injured and suspended players, and since Lazio is playing another Champions League match next week, I’m not sure they have what it takes to win this game.

Bologna is struggling so far this season, and they have only 1 of their first 4 games this season while winning only 1 game. Bologna has scored 7 goals while conceding 8 goals. Bologna is in 16th place in the standings with only 3 points. In their latest Serie A game against Sassuolo at home, Bologna has had 47% of ball possession, 6 shots on goal, 7 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and 73% of the correct passes. This was an exciting game where Bologna was leading 1-0 and 3-1, but Bologna’s defense was a disaster in the second half, and they conceded 3 goals in the last 30 minutes of the game. Bologna ended up losing this match 3-4. Soriano is the leading goalscorer for Bologna with 3 goals and 2 assists. Olsen, Dijks, Medel, and Poli are all injured, while De Silvestri is still questionable in this game. Bologna was solid last season, but unless they improve their defense soon, Bologna will be fighting to stay out of the relegation zone this season instead of the Europa League. Of course, Bologna doesn’t have the quality or depth to reach the Europa League, but they can stay outside the relegation zone without a problem if they get their defense in order.

The trends in this matchup are on Lazio’s side, but I wouldn’t side with them in this game because they have been on bad form in Serie A, and they are missing some good players. Bologna’s defense is in terrible form, which is why I will stick to goals in this game.