It is looking increasingly likely that relegation to Serie B might be decided by a play-off, as Udinese’s victory at Lecce saw them leap out of the drop zone.
Salernitana are already doomed to the drop, but the other two places are still to be decided with only two rounds left in the Serie A season.
Udinese earned a 2-0 win away to Lecce this evening, propelling them from 18th place to 15th, now equal with Cagliari on 33 points and one clear of both Frosinone and Empoli.
Verona are just one point above them, so while Sassuolo look isolated now in penultimate place on 29 points, the other five teams fighting to stay up are all crammed within a two-point radius.
Serie A fixtures include showdowns
The final Serie A 2023-24 fixtures funnily enough do provide some crucial head-to-head clashes, specifically Sassuolo-Cagliari and Udinese-Empoli this weekend, while Frosinone-Udinese is in the last round.
If two teams finish level in 18th place, they will go to a play-off.
This already happened last season, but while Verona beat Spezia on neutral turf in a one-off match, this year it would be a home and away tie.
If three or four Serie A teams are level on points, then a table will be drawn up of their head-to-head records, with the bottom two going into the play-off.