With eight matches to go in Serie A, it is now becoming clear that both Novara and Cesena have lost their fight to avoid the drop at the end of the season.
Novara are nine points away from the safety line as their first campaign in the top flight after a long, 55-year wait was rather disappointing while Cesena will almost surely lose their current status after two years with the big boys.
The big question now is who will be the other relegated side?
Lecce are currently third-bottom with 28 points, just five behind ailing Fiorentina who have one point less than Genoa.
On Monday, Genoa sacked coach Pasquale Marino and re-appointed Alberto Malesani who was shown the back door just before Christmas.
Genoa have a great opportunity to ease their worries as in their next two fixtures they travel to Novara and then host Cesena.
Fiorentina, however, are in real trouble.
Delio Rossi’s side are without a win in their last four outings including back-to-back setbacks at home to Juve (0-5) and Chievo (1-2).
The immediate future does not promise anything better as well as the Viola have four tough matches coming up – vs Milan (away), Palermo (home), Roma (away) and Inter (home).
Fiorentina started the season with Sinisa Mihajlovic as coach and the side garnered 12 points in 10 games (1.20 points per game). With Rossi, they managed 21 points in 20 outings (1.05 points per game).
Fiorentina is a club steeped in history and played Champions League football only two years ago.
Lecce, on their part, are perrennial strugglers, so that could give them an edge as the season enters the straight for home.
Carvalho Amauri, signed from Juventus in the January transfer window, still has to score for Fiorentina who have the third poorest scoring record (30 goals in favour) after Novara (26) and Cesena (18).
Fiorentina’s woes are deep though and at this stage on-field problems cannot simply be solved just by naming a new coach.
It is a matter of surviving up to May and start afresh in summer.
For sure, transfer guru Pantaleo Corvino will not form part of Fiorentina’s new project as the club has already made public the news that they will part with their sporting director at the end of the season.
Corvino, along with Cesare Prandelli, were the masterminds behind Fiorentina’s ascendency between 2005 and 2010 but then the Della Valle family, who own the club, stopped injecting capital and spending on new players.
Quality players, the likes of Giampaolo Pazzini, Marco Donadel, Sebastian Frey, Alberto Gilardino and Adrian Mutu, all left in search of pastures new.
If there is no turnaround, Fio-rentina will also risk losing other key assets in summer as Stevan Jovetic, Riccardo Montolivo and Manuel Vargas have yet to commit their futures to the club.
Although the future looks bleak, Fiorentina still have their heads above water as the five-point advantage over Lecce could be a crucial factor in the final reckonings.
However, the Viola need to put an end to their negative run of late and start winning points fast to avoid any mishaps.
Serie A statistics
1st upset for Napoli since going down to Genoa on the 20th day as on Sunday the southerners were beaten by Juve 3-0 up north. Napoli’s most recent win in Turin dates back to October 2009 (3-2). Sunday’s victory saw Juve bridging the gap with leaders Milan to two points.
3 defeats for the three sides – Lazio, Udinese and Napoli – vying for the last remaining Champions League berth. On Saturday, Lazio succumbed to their first defeat at Parma since October 2004 (1-3). This was Parma’s first win since beating Chievo away on February 5 (2-1). Udinese were Siena’s latest victims as the northeasterners were floored by a solitary Mattia Destro second-half goal. Udinese are winless in their last five outings (three draws and two defeats).
4 penalties were awarded by referees last weekend. All four were given by the same referee in Inter’s 5-4 home win over Genoa and all four were ably converted. Alberto Gilardino netted twice for Genoa. In between, Diego Milito completed his treble from the penalty spot. Earlier, Rodrigo Palacio had found the back of the net from another penalty for Genoa. Of the 103 penalties taken so far, 84 were scored.
5th home defeat for Fiorentina who were beaten on home soil by Chievo on Sunday. This was Chievo’s third success in eight visits to Florence. These two sides have never shared the spoils. Lecce did not profit from Fiorentina’s slip-up as they had to settle for a goalless home draw with lowly Cesena. Serse Cosmi’s Lecce are winless in their last five outings (four draws and one defeat).
35 goals were scored on the 30th day: 22 by the hosts and the remaining 13 from the visitors. There were six home wins and two draws. Foreign players contributed with 20 goals while there were 13 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 761. Diego Milito helped Inter return to winning ways by scoring a hat-trick. Alberto Gilardino (Genoa) and Sergio Floccari (Parma) grabbed a brace each. Three players – Adem Ljajic (Fiorentina), Lionel Scaloni (Lazio) and Fabio Quagliarella (Juventus) – came on as substitutes and scored. Archimede Morleo (Bologna) committed the only own goal of the day. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still the leading marksman with 22 goals.