Lazio are now guaranteed to finish sixth this Serie A campaign. Any hopes of winning four straight Serie A H2Hs for the first time ever could depend on scoring first.
Lazio
Lazio are now guaranteed to finish sixth this Serie A campaign. Any hopes of winning four straight Serie A H2Hs for the first time ever could depend on scoring first. Amplifying the importance of the ‘first goal’, nearly half (15) of their 32 win/loss results have seen the winner on the day secure a clean sheet. The hosts have scored first in their last eight Serie A home games, as part of a club-record 12 straight such wins, half of which came ‘to nil’. Further to the importance of a strong start, five of Lazio’s last seven Serie A home games have each seen a matching HT/FT result on the day.
Torino
Torino are the league’s stalemate specialists with a 38.89 per cent draw rate and need just a point. Failing that, they risk making their last league match against Benevento a relegation decider. Worryingly, with just one win across five Serie A games, Torino have lost form at the wrong time, conceding 11 goals (of 68) in their last two consecutive defeats. Furthermore, the visitors have won only one of their previous 16 Serie A away H2Hs vs Lazio. Torino have also lost a joint-league high two of the five Serie A away matches they led at HT, but with only three of their last ten Serie A away strikes arriving before HT, that is one record that looks safe!
Like his lone strike in the reverse H2H, three of Ciro Immobile’s last five Serie A goals have come beyond the 80th minute. Conversely, Torino’s talisman Andrea Belotti has struck four of his previous eight Serie A goals (including the reverse fixture strike) before the 60th minute.
A league-high 12 of Lazio’s opening strikes in Serie A matches have arrived before the 15th minute.