Lecce and Cagliari will battle each other for their first victory of the new Serie A season on Saturday evening at Stadio Via del Mare.
What is more the Salentini team has faced two rather tough opponents consecutively which made the team suffer from the fails whereas Sardinian boys did not lose any games in the league at least till the current term and all their matches they have drawn only.
Set a particularly arduous first set of fixtures, Lecce went down as expected in their opener to Atalanta BC and another loss against freshly crowned champions Inter Milan last season.
After conceding four goals to La Dea, Luca Gotti’s men only let in two goals to the Scudetto holders at San Siro where they were trailing one nil after just five minutes.
While failing to upset either Champions League-bound side will not cause concern for fans of the Giallorossi, their team's lack of bite is more worrying: The last league goal for Lecce was scored by Nikola Krstovic in early May, not coincidentally against Cagliari.
Since then, Gotti’s men have tried 67 shots in attempts to find the back of the net but have remained barren for the past 5 league matches – this marks the first time in the Puglian club’s Serie A history that they will be going a 6th game without scoring.
As it was evidenced in the match against Spezia, Krstovic will be responsible for the frontline duties up front when Lecce meet Cagliari on Saturday as they seek to make it thirteen matches on the bounce without tasting defeat.
Cagliari also reached the second round of Coppa Italia the past month and have started their Serie A season with two consecutive stalemates.
On a positive note, the Sardinian side managed a draw with Roma thus getting a first-day point and on Monday Como frustrated them to a 1-1 draw.
Just before the half, Piccoli headed past Pepe Reina in the visitors' goal to give Cagliari the lead. However, the advantage quickly vanished after the break.
Serie A survivor Davide Nicola is still unbeaten after three games in command, and his new team has won both of their opening two Serie A games for the first time in thirteen years.
With two campaigns remaining, the Rossoblu want to win back-to-back away games in Italy's top division for the first time in five years when they go to Via del Mare, where they haven't lost a league game since 2008.
This weekend, Luca Gotti will have additional defensive options at his disposal after his Lecce team conceded six goals in their opening two league games.
fresh signee The starting lineup on Saturday features Frederic Guilbert and Valentin Gendrey, two more French full-backs. To further strengthen Gotti's options in central defense, Kevin Bonifazi has joined on loan from Bologna.
Once again, the hosts, led by Montenegrin striker Nikola Krstovic—who scored Salentini's first-round cup winner earlier this month—will be without Joan Gonzalez and long-term absentee Mohamed Kaba.
Roberto Piccoli, a striker for Cagliari, is back at Via del Mare after five goals in thirty-five league games.
