Serie A Matchday 38: Roma aim to rebound against Spezia

Roma's Europa League final defeat to Sevilla has upped the stakes for their Serie A season finale, with a top-six spot on the line as they host survival-seeking Spezia.

Juventus' 10-point deduction has left them seventh with Europa League qualification no longer in their hands, though beating Udinese would give them a fighting chance of leapfrogging Roma or Atalanta, with the latter hosting Monza.

Verona, like Spezia, are embroiled in a final-day push to stay in the top flight, as they prepare for a daunting trip to face AC Milan at the San Siro.

Champions Napoli, meanwhile, bow out with a home game against bottom side Sampdoria.

Game of the weekend: Roma vs Spezia (Sunday, 8pm)

Roma must win their final game of the season to guarantee Europa League qualification — though even an unlikely victory may not be enough to spare Spezia, who will be forced to contest a relegation play-off if they remain level on points with 18th-placed Verona.

The visitors' chances are further dented by the fact that they have never beaten the Giallorossi in Serie A, losing four of their last five meetings and failing to score in each of the previous three.

Additionally, Jose Mourinho's men are unbeaten when opening the scoring this season (10 wins, one draw), while Leonardo Semplici's side have netted the first goal on just nine occasions — the fewest of any team in the league.

Both teams have been wasteful with their chances this term, however, which could leave room for a surprise. Spezia have underperformed their expected goals by 11.2 (30 goals from 41.2 xG — the worst in the division), while Roma have done so by 8.1 (48 goals from 56.1 xG — third-worst).

Udinese vs Juventus (Sunday, 8pm)

Juventus have one final opportunity to move from a Europa Conference League place into the top six — but must rely on one of Roma or Atalanta dropping points, even if they win their final game.

Encouragingly for the Old Lady, they have won nine of their last 11 Serie A matches against upcoming opponents Udinese (one draw, one defeat) and have lost only once in their previous 12 away from home in this fixture (seven wins, four draws).

In fact, Juve have inflicted more top-flight defeats on Udinese than any other side (66).

The Friulians often leave it late to snatch a result, earning the joint-most points in the division from goals scored after the 75th minute (12). However, Sunday's visitors have dropped just one point after conceding in the same timeframe, which is a joint-league low.

Atalanta vs Monza (Sunday, 8pm)

Like Roma, Atalanta must win their final game of the campaign to secure a spot in the top six.

La Dea boast a strong record against upcoming opponents Monza, going unbeaten against them in each of their last seven meetings across all competitions, winning six of those.

Rasmus Hojlund has enjoyed a strong debut season with the hosts. Only two players born in 2003 or later across Europe's top five divisions have scored more league goals than his eight this term, so he will hope to end the campaign with a bang before fielding bids for his services.

Biancorossi midfielder Matteo Pessina — on loan from Atalanta — could throw a spanner in the works if he can find the net against his parent club, as he did when playing for Verona in 2020.

AC Milan vs Verona (Sunday, 8pm)

Verona find themselves in a precarious position ahead of this final round of Serie A fixtures.

They must better Spezia's result against Roma in order to secure survival — matching it would lead to a relegation play-off and failure to do either would see them go straight down to Serie B.

To make matters worse, their opponents are AC Milan, who have beaten them in each of their last four meetings.

In fact, Verona have not claimed victory in any of their previous 30 league visits to the San Siro — failure to break that streak could well result in relegation.

Napoli vs Sampdoria (Sunday, 5.30pm)

Champions Napoli will be keen to end a superb season with a flourish against rock-bottom Sampdoria. Victory would take the Scudetto winners to a finishing total of 90 points.

This clash represents the widest points gap between any two teams to face each other in Serie A history (68).

Napoli are the division's top scorers with 75 goals, while Samp have the worst record, netting just 24 times. That is one fewer than the Partenopei's top scorer Victor Osimhen.

This game could see a flurry of second-half goals, with the hosts recording more strikes after the break than any other side (43) and Dejan Stankovic's outfit conceding the most goals in that timeframe (36).

The weekend's other games

Sassuolo vs Fiorentina (Friday, 7.30pm) 

Torino vs Inter Milan (Saturday, 5.30pm) 

Cremonese vs Salernitana (Saturday, 8pm) 

Empoli vs Lazio (Saturday, 8pm) 

Lecce vs Bologna (Sunday, 8pm)

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