Separated by three places in the Serie A table, Cagliari and relegation-threatened Venezia face off in the penultimate gameweek at Unipol Domus on Sunday.
Despite sitting 14th, the Sardinians are not mathematically safe from the drop, but their position is not as precarious as the 17th-placed Lagunari, who are just one point above the bottom three.
Match preview
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Cagliari enter round 37 in Serie A aware that they could still suffer relegation this term, though there is a feeling that Davide Nicola's men have done enough this season to avoid the drop.
The Sardinians head into this weekend's fixture five points clear of 18th-placed Lecce and Empoli in 19th, both of whom have 28 points, with six left to play for.
While fans of the Rossoblu should expect to extend their ongoing two-year stay in the top flight, they yearn for an improvement in results to bring some cheer as the season comes to a close.
Davide Nicola's men have lost four of their last five league matches, with the only victory coming against Hellas Verona in 15th during that stretch, but they have been undermined by conceding two goals or more in defeats to Inter Milan (3-1), Fiorentina (2-1), Udinese (2-1) and Como (3-1).
Two of those setbacks have occurred on home soil, and the club's fans will hope to avoid witnessing a third consecutive disappointment in Sardinia, where they have not lost three in a row in the same season since March to April 2022 — Lazio (3-0), AC Milan (1-0) and Juventus (2-1).
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Aiming to inflict another defeat on Cagliari are Venezia, whose surprising 2-1 victory over Conference League semi-finalists Fiorentina in the previous round, combined with Lecce's draw against Verona, took them outside the bottom three.
With two games remaining, Eusebio Di Francesco's men secured a timely second victory of 2025, following April 12's 1-0 success over Monza; however, the 18th-placed team could return to the dreaded spots if their ongoing inability to win away from home persists.
Winless on their travels all season since returning to the top flight, the Winged Lions have not secured maximum points on the road since beating Torino 2-1 in February 2022, extending their 25-match winless streak away from home.
Nevertheless, the current iteration enter Sunday's match on a run of five consecutive draws on the road, recording score draws at Como, Lecce, Empoli and Torino after their goalless encounter against Atalanta, which initiated the ongoing stretch.
Having remained unbeaten in eight Serie A matches against Cagliari since November 1966, Venezia, who sit one point above Lecce and Empoli, strive to extend that record to enhance their survival prospects.
Team News
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While Leonardo Pavoletti is suspended after accumulating five yellow cards, and Florinel Coman and Yerry Mina are expected to miss Sunday's game for Cagliari due to injury, Jakub Jankto and Sebastiano Luperto are touch-and-go for the penultimate fixture.
Although Roberto Piccoli and Nadir Zortea have scored nine and six goals respectively, the onus remains on Piccoli to be decisive, having netted four match-opening goals and three game-winning strikes this season.
Even though Venezia have no suspensions for Sunday, the Lagunari are without Alfred Duncan (muscle), Cheick Conde (ankle) and Michael Svoboda (knee) due to injury.
Hans Nicolussi Caviglia may top the away side's scoring charts, but the Juventus loanee's four Serie A goals highlight the Venice-based club's broader attacking efficiency issues — only the league's bottom three have scored fewer than the Winged Lions' 30.
Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Caprile; Zappa, Palomino, Obert; Zortea, Deiola, Makoumbou, Adopo, Augello; Luvumbo, Piccoli
Venezia possible starting lineup:
Radu; Schingtienne, Idzes, Cande; Zerbin, Doumbia, Caviglia, Busio, Ellertsson; Gytkjaer, Yeboah
We say: Cagliari 1-1 Venezia
Despite Venezia's lack of away victories, five consecutive draws on their travels suggest that Di Francesco's men have been hard to beat on the road lately, and the Lagunari are favoured to maintain that trend by securing another point against Cagliari in Sardinia.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
