Cesena, Lecce and Novara currently occupy the bottom three places in the Serie A.
Cesena only have 15 points to show from their first 18 outings, three ahead of Lecce and Novara.
Cesena are three points adrift of fourth-bottom Siena and unless they step up a gear their prospects of avoiding the drop look bleak.
Prior to last weekend, Lecce were bottom with only nine points. The southerners were coming from a barren run of seven winless games in a row – one draw (vs Parma 3-3) and six defeats.
But, on Sunday, Serse Cosmi’s side rose to the occasion and recorded their third away win of the season as they conquered Fiorentina’s Artemio Franchi Stadium by a solitary David Di Michele penalty goal midway through the second half.
The win was the first for Lecce since ex-Perugia and Udinese mentor Cosmi took over from Eusebio Di Francesco on the 14th day.
Ironically, from their overall 12 points, Lecce collected 11 away from their Via del Mare stadium – three wins and two draws.
They are the only top division side still to record a home win this season.
Naturally, a considerable im-provement in home form is pivotal for Lecce to beat the drop.
Novara are the exact opposite of Lecce. The newcomers chalked up 10 of their 12 points in their first nine home games, including an incredible 3-1 victory over Inter on the fourth day.
So far, Novara only managed two draws on the road and, like Siena and Palermo, still have to record an away success.
Cesena, like Lecce, have already resorted to the change of coach as Daniele Arrigoni took over the reins of the team from Marco Giampaolo on the 10th day.
By that time, Cesena had only three draws to show.
Under Arrigoni, Cesena are making a remarkable comeback as they won 12 points in nine games.
Former Fiorentina and Chelsea hit-man Adrian Mutu has contributed significantly to Cesena’s ascendancy of late by scoring five goals since Arrigoni’s arrival.
Cesena revived their survival chances to an extent that now they have Siena within striking distance.
The feeling is that if there is a team that stands a good chance to avoid relegation, it is Cesena.
After a promising start, Siena faltered in no small way in recent weeks.
The Tuscany outfit recorded one win in their last nine outings.
Apart from a resounding 4-0 home win over Lazio on the 17th day, Siena only have two draws in their last nine outings to show.
On Monday, Bologna went four points clear of Cesena thanks to a valuable 1-1 away draw against Napoli.
Bologna are still not safe though but many reckon they have too many experienced players within their ranks to go down.
The same applies for Atalanta, who have 20 points after being docked six before the start of the season for their involvement in a match-fixing case.
Although Atalanta experienced a nose-dive in the last two months (they won only once in their last eight outings), they seem strong enough to keep their heads above water.
Further up the standings, Fiorentina and Palermo have 21 points each after enduring a terrible campaign.
Fiorentina never really got going but the same cannot be said of Palermo who enjoyed a superb start only to fade as the competition intensified.
With the Serie A at its half-way stage, the fight for survival is expected to get harsher by each match.
It will be difficult for Lecce and Novara to stay up if they fail to strengthen their squads this month. Cesena seem to have a better chance but first they have to leapfrog Siena to reach their pre-set goal.
Serie A statistics
1st win for Pasquale Marino since replacing Alberto Malesani in December as Genoa beat Udinese 3-2. For the Friulani this was their first defeat after a six-match positive run (four wins and two draws). Roberto Donadoni enjoyed a victorious debut at Parma after a 3-1 win over Siena who only have one win to show in their last nine outings (two draws, six losses).
5 penalties were awarded by Serie A referees last weekend. Edinson Cavani (Napoli), Adrian Mutu (Cesena), David Di Michele (Lecce) and Hernanes (Lazio) all scored but Antonio Candreva, of Cesena, saw his spot-kick blocked by Novara’s Samir Ujkani. Of the 63 penalties taken so far, 52 were scored. Meanwhile, two players – Marco Rossi (Genoa) and Stefano Lucchini (Atalanta) – re-ceived their marching orders.
6th straight win for Inter who edged Milan thanks to a Diego Milito second-half goal in the derby. For Milan this was their first defeat since going down to Juventus (0-2) on October 2. Juventus dropped two crucial home points as they were held by Cagliari on Sunday. Davide Ballardini’s side have now collected four points from the last available six.
7 winless games in a row (one draw and six defeats) were interrupted by Lecce as the southerners conquered Fiorentina’s Artemio Franchi stadium for the first time since November 2009 (2-1). For the Viola this was only their second home upset of the term (following their 1-2 reverse against Lazio on October 2).
22 goals were scored on the 18th day (Catania-Roma was abandoned due to bad weather in the 65th minute and statistics of this game are not included 14 coming from the hosts and the remaining eight from the visitors, who managed two wins. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 442.