Locked in a battle for the European spots, Bologna and Lazio, separated by one place in the Serie A table, face off at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in Sunday's gameweek 29 encounter.

Match preview

Aiming to continue their commendable 2025 form, Bologna seek their seventh victory since the turn of the year to supplant their opponents this week and possibly overtake fourth-placed Juventus, who travel to Fiorentina on Sunday.

Only Roma (eight) have more wins than the Rossoblu (six) in the new year, with the Emilians' victories coming in 11 matches; they have accrued four fewer points than Claudio Ranieri's team (26).

Strikingly, five of the Red and Blues' six triumphs have come in front of their supporters, who have seen their team defeat Monza (3-1), Como (2-0), Torino (3-2), AC Milan (2-1) and Cagliari (2-1) this year, having notched one point from a possible six before the ongoing run.

Having been successful in their last away match, securing a 2-1 success at Hellas Verona, Italiano's men have now secured three wins on the bounce for the second time this season — they beat Cagliari, Lecce and Roma between October and November last year — and the Rossoblu aim to notch four consecutive victories for the first time in a year, when the club won six on the spin between February and March 2024.

Despite losing the reverse fixture 3-0 in the capital, supporters at the Dall'Ara will be aware of their side avoiding defeat in Lazio's five recent visits, claiming three wins and drawing twice, with the away side winless in Emilia-Romagna since December 2018.

It will be fascinating to see if Marco Baroni approaches Sunday's Bologna visit aiming to notch maximum points to end Lazio's seven-year wait for maximum points or take fewer risks, given the possibility of falling to sixth.

The Biancocelesti have been involved in three stalemates in their recent four top-flight games, playing out score draws against title-contending Napoli (2-2) and Udinese (1-1) while drawing 0-0 at struggling Venezia in late February.

With the capital club missing out on the chance of moving to fourth on Monday after they could only draw with in-form Udinese despite Juventus' 4-0 hammering at home to Atalanta, Baroni might consider a front-foot approach to possibly exploit any slips from the Old Lady who visit Fiorentina.

Despite the Aquilotti's lack of recent wins entering Sunday's fixture — Lazio have drawn three of their last five games (two wins) and have notched just four victories from 10 in 2025 (four draws, two losses) — the visitors have strikingly avoided losing in four away matches on the bounce, defeating Verona (3-0), Cagliari (2-1) and Milan (2-1) and playing out a goalless encounter with second-bottom Venezia.

Only Atalanta and Roma (four wins each) have won more away matches in the same period, highlighting Lazio's strength on their travels, where their eight wins on the road better every club except Atalanta (10) this term.

With the fourth-best away side travelling to the in-form Bologna, who have the third-best home record, Sunday's match-up between these European hopefuls should be fascinating.

Bologna possible starting lineup:

Ravaglia; Silvestri, Beukema, Casale, Miranda; Freuler, Moro; Orsolini, Fabbian, Ndoye; Castro

Lazio possible starting lineup:

Provedel; Marusic, Gila, Romagnoli, Tavares; Guendouzi, Rovella; Isaksen, Dia, Zaccagni; Castellanos