Fourth-bottom Parma could slip into the bottom three in Serie A this weekend if they are unsuccessful in Saturday's gameweek 27 contest with Torino at Stadio Ennio Tardini and results elsewhere go against them.
However, supporters have reason to be optimistic, having claimed maximum points on Cristian Chivu's home debut on February 22, and the Emilians seek back-to-back triumphs in Emilia-Romagna for the first time this season; to do so, they must beat a side who have lost just one of their last seven matches away from Turin.
Match preview
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After going three matches without winning at the Tardini before Chivu replaced Fabio Pecchia, losing to Lecce (3-1) and Roma (1-0), Parma claimed a 2-0 win over Champions League-chasing Bologna in late February and aim to record consecutive triumphs in front of their fans.
That is a feat the promoted Emilians have not achieved in Serie A since January 2020, when they secured 2-0 wins over Lecce and Udinese, but Chivu hopes to end that wait for successive home triumphs.
Two of this season's home victories, over AC Milan and Lazio, preceded defeats against Udinese and Hellas Verona, respectively, while late December's success against Monza was followed by a 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Venezia.
Parma aim to end their wait for back-to-back wins at the Tardini, with maximum points guaranteeing the Emilians avoid dropping into the dreaded bottom three this weekend.
With Empoli, who host Roma, just a point adrift, Gli Emiliani must match the 18th-placed side's result in gameweek 28 to stay outside the bottom three.
Victory could see Chivu's men rise to 15th, although that outcome is contingent on Cagliari losing at home to Genoa and Lecce falling to Milan — both clubs are two points above the Yellow and Blues.
That outcome is far from guaranteed, given Parma's inconsistency in front of their supporters and Torino being hard to beat away from home.
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While Paolo Vanoli's side beating Monza 2-0 last weekend ended the Turin outfit's three-month wait for success on the road, the Bull were defeated only once during that winless sequence before winning at the Biancorossi.
That sole loss was a 3-2 reverse at Europe-chasing Bologna, who turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 triumph in the game's closing minutes, highlighting Torino's competitiveness away from home despite the shortage of victories.
The 11th-placed Granata have secured only four away wins from 14, while playing out five draws and losing as many; however, only one defeat — a 2-0 loss in the Turin derby against Juventus — was by more than one goal, evidenced by three 3-2 losses against Inter Milan, Cagliari and Bologna and a 1-0 reverse at Roma.
Despite the Turin outfit being unlikely to challenge for the European positions via the league — they sit 13 points behind Bologna in sixth — and are 12 points clear of danger barring an unforeseen collapse, ending as high as possible in the top flight seems to be the Granata's only motivation this term.
While success this weekend will not take Torino into the top half, as they rank five points behind Udinese, they aim to notch three Serie A victories on the trot for the first time since 2019 at Parma's expense.
Team News
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Even though Parma have no suspended players heading into this weekend, Pontus Almqvist is one more booking away from a one-match ban.
The hosts have several injury doubts, with Enrico Del Prato, Hernani, Milan Djuric and Yordan Osorio to be assessed ahead of Saturday, while Adrian Benedyczak, Adrian Bernabe, Alessandro Circati, Gabriel Charpentier, Mateusz Kowalski and Valentin Mihaila are absent.
Ange-Yoan Bonny has netted five times in Serie A for the Emilians this term, with two goals proving match-winning strikes, and the forward aims to be decisive this weekend.
While Saul Coco is one booking away from suspension for the away side, Vanoli is without Perr Schuurs, Alieu Njie and Duvan Zapata for this weekend's visit to Parma.
Despite only moving to Torino on loan in January, Eljif Elmas has netted in consecutive away games at Bologna and Monza, and the former Napoli man aims to score in three straight matches on the road in a big-five European league for the first time in his career.
Only Napoli's Romelu Lukaku has netted more match-winning goals than Che Adams (four), and the seven-goal man could move level with the Belgian striker with a decisive contribution this weekend.
Parma possible starting lineup:
Suzuki; Leoni, Balogh, Valenti, Valeri; Sohm, Estevez, Keita; Cancellieri, Bonny, Man
Torino possible starting lineup:
Milinkovic-Savic; Walukiewicz, Maripan, Coco, Biraghi; Ricci, Casadei; Lazaro, Vlasic, Slmas; Adams
We say: Parma 1-1 Torino
Although Chivu secured maximum points in his first home match as Parma boss, the former defender's team may have to accept a point this weekend.
With four of Torino's last seven away top-flight matches ending in stalemates, another tie could be in the offing for the Granata on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
