After securing progress in Europe last time out, Lazio return to their pursuit of a top-four finish in Serie A, when struggling Sampdoria arrive in Rome on Monday. The teams convene at Stadio Olimpico fighting very different battles at opposite ends of the table, as Samp have yet to win in 2023 while their hosts remain in the mix for Champions League qualification. Immobile, who recently returned from another injury layoff, had extended his scoring streak by bagging both goals in a subsequent 2-0 win over Salernitana, but was unable to wrap up qualification for the last 16 in style as Lazio were forced to hold tight in Romania and see out a 1-0 aggregate win.
Maurizio Sarri’s side may have failed to break through despite their dominance, but nonetheless did enough to earn a tie against AZ Alkmaar in the next round; making up somewhat for their recent Coppa Italia exit. A league loss to Atalanta earlier this month had also seen them slip to sixth in the Serie A standings, and Lazio have proved consistently inconsistent in recent times, having never repeated the same result throughout their last eight home matches – a run featuring three wins, three draws and two losses.
The Aquile are nonetheless, behind only Barcelona and Juventus in terms of clean sheets kept across the top five European leagues in 2022-23; only twice in their history have they fared better at this stage of a Serie A season – both previous occurrences coming back in the 1970s.
Now faced by a Sampdoria side which has been inept in front of goal, Lazio have won 10 of their last 13 league matches against the Ligurians, following a 1-1 draw in August’s reverse fixture. Indeed, they are also unbeaten in their last 16 home games against them.
Sampdoria season of strife continues to see them swirl ever closer to the Serie A trapdoor, and with games starting to run out there are precious few signs they can avoid following city rivals Genoa down to the second tier.
Having gained only two points from their last seven top-flight fixtures, and with just 11 tallied overall, they have posted the club’s worst-ever total at this point of a Serie A campaign. Furthermore, since the switch to three points per win during the mid-90s, every previous team with two wins or fewer after 23 games were ultimately relegated.
