Parma (home)
- Parma are unbeaten in 2 home games (W1, D1).
- Parma have 34 points from 29 games to Cremonese’s 24.
- Parma, who have won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five, are enjoying a decent run in the middle of a season-long struggle and are managed by coach Carlos Cuesta, who has implemented a possession-based system that suits the wing-backs in his side and gets them pressing high.
- Cuesta has taken the idea of patient build-up play to a new level at Parma, which is perhaps no surprise given his background as an assistant at Arsenal, but Parma are likely to find Cremonese’s deep defensive lines frustrating on Saturday.
Cremonese (away)
- Cremonese have lost their last 2 away games.
- Cremonese have scored just 11 goals in 15 away games in Serie A (W3, D3, L9).
- Nicola’s side are not very good at playing with the ball, so they will need to be very disciplined here to maintain compactness in the center of the park and structure in defence.
- They also need to be ready to attack quickly on the counter-attack, which is their main strength.
- And the Serie A bottom-three club are in awful form, having lost four straight games and taken only one point from their last five available.
Head-to-Head
The most recent head-to-head was a 0-0 draw at Cremonese in Serie A five months ago.
Key Players
- Federico Bonazzoli is Cremonese’s top scorer in Serie A with six in 26 and they have no other out-and-out striker of any quality.
- Mateo Pellegrino, with eight in 29, has been Parma’s most reliable finisher, scoring two of his goals in the last five games.
Betting Insights
- A home win is our main selection, at 2.1, because Parma are the more organised side and can wear their visitors down after a while.
- A clean sheet for the home side has to be expected, given Cremonese's recent attacking struggles, so BTTS-NO looks a top pick at 1.83.
Prediction
Expect Parma to edge a tense, low-scoring affair - home win (2.1) with BTTS-NO (1.83) .
