Cremonese-Salernitana is a Serie A Week 38 match to be played on Saturday at 21:00: line-ups, predictions, TV and streaming
For a few weeks Davide Ballardini’s Cremonese believed they could replicate a similar feat to the one Salernitana achieved last year.
The Granata, given up for dead until a few months before the end of the championship, had managed to keep their category thanks to an epic comeback, reaching the goal only on the last day. But the grigiorossi, unlike them, started to get into gear when it was too late. They paid dearly for the disastrous first half of the season: with the change of technical guide there was a turning point, but it was not enough to get back into a fight for salvation that, on balance, never concerned Cremonese. Already arithmetically relegated two rounds ago, Okereke and his companions will try to say goodbye to Serie A – regained after two decades last year – with a positive result. Three defeats in a row for the grigiorossa line-up, which has definitely widened the net as far as the defensive set-up is concerned. They conceded five goals in their last home match against Bologna, and three last Sunday against Lazio, although the comeback from 2-0 down to 2-2, which was cancelled out by Milinkovic-Savic’s goal at the end of the match, is an important sign.
Salernitana don’t want to stop
The Salernitana instead looks forward to next season after being promoted with flying colours. The Campania side have never been involved in the fight not to be relegated, unlike last season, and are one step away from a record number of points in the top flight
Garnata Troost-Ekong’s exultation
Should they win against Cremonese, they would equal their best points average of the season in the competition: 1.18 as in 1947-48, always counting three points per win. Credit, above all, to coach Paulo Sousa, who took over from Davide Nicola at the start of 2023. The Portuguese coach has been able to make the most of several players in the Granata squad, giving the team a precise identity and focusing on less conservative ideas than his predecessor. Since Sousa has been on the Salernitana bench, he has lost only two matches out of fifteen: the Granata showed character even in the last round, when safety was already secured, by coming back against Udinese after going down by two goals.
Cremonese-Salernitana: latest line-up info
Amongst the Grigiorossi, Dessers, Chiriches and Benassi are unavailable. Ballardini is unlikely to recover at least one of them. The coach should re-propose the four-man defence, with Carnesecchi in goal and the attacking pair of Okereke and Tsadjout. Galdames will start from the bench: in midfield the starters will be Pickel, Meité, Castagnetti and Valeri.
On the other side, Sousa recovers defenders Daniliuc and Gyomber but must do without the disqualified Vilhena in midfield. The team’s top scorer Dia is also in doubt: up front there is room for Piatek, supported by Kastanos and Candreva.
The Prediction
The only previous encounter between the grigiorossi and granata in the top flight was the 2-2 draw in the first leg. We could witness a prolific match this time as well, considering that Cremonese and Salernitana have seen plenty of goals in their last matches, but above all, these are two teams that no longer have any goals to fight for. A draw cannot be ruled out.
Cremonese v Salernitana matchday squad
- CREMONESE (4-4-2): Carnesecchi; Sernicola, Bianchetti, Lochoshvili, Vasquez; Pickel, Meité, Castagnetti, Valeri; Tsadjout, Okereke.
- SALERNITANA (3-4-2-1): Ochoa; Gyomber, Daniliuc, Pirola; Mazzocchi, Bohinen, Coulibaly, Bradaric; Candreva, Kastanos; Piatek.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-2
